Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the BRICS countries for a roadmap to reform global governance, arguing that the current structure is a "pyramid" that concentrates power and decision-making at the top, leaving affected countries without the capacity to influence. Modi made these statements at the opening of the first plenary session of the leaders' summit, held at the Bharat Mandapam convention center in New Delhi, with the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, among other heads of state from the bloc.
Modi's proposed roadmap is structured around three axes: representation, responsiveness, and norm-making, with the aim of strengthening the weight of emerging economies in international institutions. The prime minister stressed that the reform of the United Nations Security Council "can no longer be postponed" and that negotiations must be linked to set deadlines and concrete results.
Modi also argued that voting power, leadership positions, and the priorities of international financial institutions must reflect the current weight of the economies driving global growth. India, which holds the rotating presidency of the bloc this year, intends for BRICS to transform internal consensus into concrete results on a global scale.
The prime minister stated that the Global South "is today in the front row of global crises, but in the back row of decision-making," calling for the "pyramid of privileges" to become a "partnership platform." Modi insisted that BRICS "are not against anyone" and must move forward by integrating everyone, in an attempt to present the bloc as a platform for reforming the international system and not as a confrontation alliance.
