New Delhi: The foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping failed to arrive at a consensus on the West Asia conflict at the conclusion of their summit in New Delhi on Friday, preventing the bloc from issuing a joint statement.
The member countries reached agreement on nearly 60 other agenda items, however, including energy cooperation, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), trade, financial inclusion and multilateral reforms.
An outcome statement outlining areas of convergence is expected to be released shortly, but sharp differences over the ongoing tensions in West Asia stalled efforts to finalise a comprehensive joint statement, sources said, as reported by News18.
BRICS is an important grouping with China, Russia, India and Brazil being among the members. Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined later and it is the differences between these two countries that prevented the bloc from issuing a joint statement.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called on BRICS nations to explicitly condemn the United States and Israel over recent military actions targeting Iran.
He described the strikes as violations of international law and urged the grouping to take a stronger position against what it termed external aggression and the “politicisation” of international institutions.
The UAE, on the other hand, condemned strikes by Iran on its soil, calling them an attack on the nation’s Sovereignty.
The disagreement between Iran and the UAE underscored the diplomatic challenge for India, which is chairing BRICS this year and has been attempting to balance competing positions within the bloc.
The member states agreed to deepen cooperation in energy security, expand collaboration on Digital Public Infrastructure, strengthen intra-BRICS trade mechanisms, enhance climate and sustainable development partnerships, and push for reforms in global governance institutions.
Officials maintained that the grouping had made substantial progress on key economic and developmental priorities central to the BRICS agenda, despite the deadlock in the Middle East.
Differences linked to the UAE’s position within the grouping had complicated discussions surrounding the final declaration, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi had earlier indicated.
