NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for greater cooperation and inclusive growth within BRICS to address the growing geopolitical challenges affecting people across the world, while cautioning that the weaponisation of technology and critical minerals could undermine collective progress.
Addressing the concluding session of the two-day, India-hosted BRICS summit, Modi said rising conflicts, tensions, pandemics, climate-related disasters and disruptions to supply chains were having an increasingly wide-ranging impact on ordinary people.
“Today, the number of conflicts and tensions in the world is continuously increasing, and this is having an increasingly negative and far-reaching impact on the lives of ordinary people,” he said.
Modi said the interconnected nature of the global economy meant that crises could no longer be contained within geographical boundaries. He stressed the need for BRICS countries to improve their resilience by identifying emerging challenges early, preparing for them and responding swiftly.
India’s BRICS chairship focused on four pillars — resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability, he said, adding that New Delhi sought to ensure that the benefits of initiatives developed within the grouping were also accessible and adaptable to countries of the Global South.
“We may be rooted in different realities, but together, we rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity,” Modi said, adding that the diversity of BRICS should remain its identity and cooperation its inspiration.
The prime minister noted that developing countries increasingly looked towards BRICS because their concerns were heard, experiences valued and solutions developed in partnership rather than imposed.
The summit concluded with several initiatives covering supply chains, start-ups, public health, agriculture, urban mobility and clean energy.
Modi said BRICS countries had agreed to establish an integrated early warning system to strengthen preparedness and response to infectious diseases. Guidelines for integrating early-warning data for disaster management were also prepared.
The BRICS Logistics Supply Chain Cooperation Framework, he said, would contribute to making supply networks more dependable and resilient.
On innovation, Modi said the BRICS Incubator Network would facilitate greater links between start-ups and incubators across member countries. India also proposed a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund to support innovative and scalable solutions.
The prime minister warned that the “weaponisation of technology and critical minerals” could obstruct shared prosperity, stressing the need for inclusive access to technology.
The BRICS Network on Digital Agriculture, he said, would link artificial intelligence, geospatial technologies and Digital Public Infrastructure with farmers’ needs, creating new opportunities in the agricultural sector.
Modi also underlined India’s efforts to broaden BRICS engagement beyond governments by involving entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers, women, youth and citizens.
Through BRICS CONNECT, India promoted skills, employability, women’s participation in the workforce, social security and capacity building, while the BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal was launched to help small businesses access knowledge, finance and markets.
A BRICS Urban Mobility Hub has also been established to enable cities to share best practices, he said.
On sustainability, Modi said India viewed development and environmental protection as complementary rather than competing objectives. He highlighted progress in clean energy, including the establishment of the BRICS Digital Centre of Excellence for Smart Grids and Energy Storage.
The centre, he said, would support more reliable, efficient and accessible clean energy systems.
The annual BRICS summit brought together 11 major emerging economies, representing around 49.5 per cent of the world’s population and 40 per cent of global GDP. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were among the leaders attending the summit.