Search

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 June technical round of negotiations on the EAEU–India free trade area ended constructively. The BRICS autumn summit in New Delhi is the most likely point for a political announcement of the signing. The EEC Director General confirmed: there are no obstacles. The US tariff pressure on India of 50% creates maximum motivation for New Delhi to close the agreement right now. For Russian exporters, there is a market of 1.4 billion people with preferential access.

Brazil, as the current chairman of the BRICS, has officially raised the issue of including BRICS Pay in the main agenda of the 2026 summit in India. Russia supported it. The successful pilot of the Drex CBDC bridge-the UAE digital dirhams, completed in June, strengthened the position of supporters. Technically, BRICS Pay assumes a single CBDC platform for payments within a block without a dollar. If India approves, there will be a working tool for $1 trillion in trade without American infrastruc

The bill on taxation of cryptocurrencies and digital financial assets will be submitted to the State Duma next week. This was stated by Alexey Yakovlev, Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance, at the Alpha Summit. The document contains the long-awaited norm for the CFA market and specific rules for personal income tax on income from cryptocurrencies.

The second Logistics Shakti Summit 2026 was held in New Delhi on April 24. Indian Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced a goal to reduce the share of logistics costs in the country's GDP from the current 14-16% to 9%. India is investing 1 trillion rupees in multimodal infrastructure and building a new role as the architect of BRICS supply chains.

The BRICS are discussing the creation of a single payment system based on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs): India is promoting the idea of "linking" national CBDCs for trade and tourism settlements and may take the initiative to the BRICS 2026 summit. This is not a "single currency", but new payment "rails" that will potentially speed up transfers and reduce fees. We analyze the benefits for foreign economic activity and barriers — from interoperability to compliance and clearing.

Madagascar announced South Africa's support for obtaining the status of a BRICS partner country. According to President Mikael Randrianirina, the request was accepted during a visit to Pretoria, and Madagascar may receive an invitation to the BRICS summit under the Indian presidency in 2026. At the same time, the decision on partnership is made only by consensus of all participants, therefore, the support of South Africa is an important, but not the final step.

Egypt has confirmed its support for India's upcoming BRICS presidency in 2026. On the sidelines of the G20 summit, the ministers of the two countries discussed the development of economic and investment projects, as well as prospects for cooperation in technology and innovation.

A Chinese expert said that the G20 summit in South Africa could be a historic event for Africa. Taking place on the continent for the first time, the leaders' meeting has the potential to launch new initiatives in infrastructure, energy, and sustainable development, paving the way for Africa to play a more active role in global politics.

Expert Lubarto Sartoyo called the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia the key event of the year. The meeting of the leaders of the region is devoted to issues of sustainable growth, digital integration and the expansion of the association — East Timor has joined ASEAN.

At the TransRussia summit, experts discussed how logistics for e-commerce can be both fast, affordable and customer-oriented.

The first official meeting of the customs departments of Russia and Indonesia took place at the BRICS summit. The parties discussed strengthening cooperation and preparations for signing a bilateral agreement.

The results of the BRICS 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro: the expansion of settlements in national currencies, the strengthening of the New Development Bank, the pause in the admission of new members and the reaction of the United States.

During the meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Tinh discussed the current level and prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries.

The economic and investment cooperation of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will receive a powerful boost in the near future. This statement was made by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special representative of the President of the Russian Federation Kirill Dmitriev on the sidelines of the SCO summit, which is taking place in China.