The XVIII BRICS Summit will be held in New Delhi on September 12-13, 2026. India holds the Chairmanship, the first year in this role. On the agenda: EAEU–India FTA, BRICS Pay, transport corridors, food and energy security. This is a key event for the foreign economic activity community in the second half of the year.
The summit is two months away. India is hosting the guests for the first time as the BRICS chairman, and the political incentive to show the results is maximum. That is why the probability of specific agreements on trade and settlement mechanisms is higher than at any previous summit.
Three topics define the content for the foreign economic activity business.
- The first is the EAEU–India FTA. Negotiations are underway, there are no technical obstacles, according to the EEC leadership. The US tariff pressure on India (50% duty) creates a direct economic motivation for New Delhi to close the agreement. The BRICS Summit is a convenient platform for announcing a breakthrough: India accepts, India wins politically.
- The second one is BRICS Pay. After the successful pilot of the Brazilian CBDC Drex with the UAE digital dirhams and China's readiness for the commercial launch of mBridge, the technical base for the system has been assembled. The summit may give a mandate for standardization and the first bilateral settlement pilots.
- The third is transport corridors. The Hormuz crisis of 2026 has convincingly demonstrated the vulnerability of unidirectional routes. The summit will discuss the North–South Transport Corridor, the Trans—Caspian Corridor, and Chabahar, with specific agreements on investment and management.
For companies trading with India: prepare documentation for the CT-2 certificate by September. When signing the FTA, companies with ready documentation begin work immediately, while others wait months for bureaucratic preparation.
