Amid twin wars, BRICS Declaration bats for smooth flow of global trade - The Indian Express

The BRICS nations on Saturday issued a joint declaration at the summit held in New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam, expressing concern over the tensions persisting due to the West Asia war, and sought “maximum restraint, as well as avoiding actions that could further aggravate the situation.”

As part of New Delhi Declaration, the grouping sought, “to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations in their entirety and interconnectedness, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the States.”

While calling for restraint and de-escalation of the ongoing Middle East conflict, BRICS nations pushed for dialogue and diplomacy “towards a longterm understanding that will contribute to lasting peace, security and stability in the region.”

“We stress the need to work together to maintain smooth flow of global trade, supply chains and energy, in accordance with applicable international law,” the statement said.

In their declaration, BRICS nations called for for the immediate restoration of an effective and fully functioning two-tier, binding WTO (World Trade Organisation) dispute settlement mechanism.

“We strongly advocate for the immediate restoration of an accessible, effective, fully functioning, two-tier binding WTO dispute settlement mechanism as a foundation for trust and predictability for all WTO members, and the appointment of new Appellate Body members without further delay,” the statement said.

Supporting reform of the 166-member WTO and strengthening a non-discriminatory, open, equitable, transparent, fair, inclusive, predictable and rules-based multilateral trading system, the members expressed commitment to remain engaged in the multilateral negotiations in Geneva, especially in the debates regarding the reform of the WTO.

India achieved the much-anticipated consensus on a joint declaration at the BRICS Summit after days of hectic negotiations, sources confirmed to The Indian Express on Saturday.

The phrasing of the war in West Asia had divided Iran and UAE in the last six months. In May this year, there was no consensus on the paragraph at the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting.

With the war in West Asia flaring up following the exchange of strikes between the US and Iran, the BRICS Sherpas, the most senior negotiators from the 11 member countries of the grouping, had been burning the midnight oil to try and hammer out the joint declaration for the New Delhi summit.

With the UAE and Iran, new members of the BRICS since 2024, part of the negotiations, Indian officials had been working to bridge the gap between the warring parties.

Ever since the start of the war on February 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran, Tehran has targeted US bases in the Gulf region, including the UAE. This has had the Emiratis and the Iranians at loggerheads over the last six months.

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 27 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting and writing explainers and analysis on foreign affairs for about 19 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He won the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award, 2023, for the second time for his reporting of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More