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India secured a notable diplomatic win at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, where leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration despite sharp differences between Iran and the UAE over the West Asia conflict. The agreement, reached under India’s 2026 BRICS chairship, turned a months-long consensus-building challenge into a common text on regional cooperation, trade, sanctions, supply chains and global governance reform.
How Did India Build Consensus Between Iran and the UAE?
India built consensus by keeping the text broad enough for rival states to accept, while preserving references to issues that mattered to the wider bloc: dialogue, diplomacy, protection of civilians, secure maritime trade, supply-chain resilience and reform of multilateral institutions. Earlier BRICS meetings in New Delhi had failed to produce a joint statement because Iran and the UAE could not agree on language about the Middle East, making the leaders’ declaration a test of India’s ability to convert political consensus into an outcome document.
The breakthrough followed intensified consultations by BRICS Sherpas before the summit. Reports ahead of the leaders’ meeting said negotiators worked to bridge Iran-UAE differences over the West Asia war and Palestine, while India also pushed for anti-terror language, UN reform and discussions on unilateral sanctions.
A Declaration Shaped by a Divided Regional Moment
The New Delhi Declaration was adopted during the September 12–13, 2026, BRICS Summit, hosted by India under the theme ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’. The official declaration reaffirmed mutual respect, sovereign equality, inclusiveness, collaboration and consensus as guiding BRICS principles, while committing members to cooperation across political-security, economic-financial and people-to-people pillars.
That wording mattered because BRICS now includes countries with overlapping but often competing strategic alliances. India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE sit in the same expanded grouping, but their security priorities are not identical. AP described the declaration as a significant breakthrough because finding agreement among Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE was diplomatically complex during ongoing conflicts and heightened tensions.
What the Declaration Covered
The declaration did not function only as a crisis-management text. It also carried the economic and institutional agenda India wanted to project through its BRICS presidency: a more representative global order, resilient supply chains, fairer trade conditions and stronger cooperation among developing economies.
Key areas included:
- Regional cooperation: BRICS leaders expressed concern over escalating tensions in the Middle East and Sudan and called for disputes to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
- Trade and supply chains: The bloc criticised rising tariffs and non-tariff barriers, saying such measures damage global trade and supply chains.
- Sanctions language: Leaders opposed unilateral sanctions and coercive economic measures not authorised by the UN, a formulation broad enough to accommodate different national positions.
- Local-currency trade: The summit backed wider use of local currencies in trade and stronger cross-border payment systems.
- Global governance reform: The declaration reiterated support for reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, and global financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF.
For India, the structure of the declaration allowed geopolitical language and development priorities to sit together. That balance helped New Delhi avoid a document dominated by one conflict while still acknowledging the pressures that wars, maritime insecurity and sanctions place on energy flows and international commerce.
India’s Balancing Act With Tehran and Abu Dhabi
The diplomacy behind the India-Iran-UAE consensus drew on New Delhi’s separate relationships with both capitals. India-Iran relations remain anchored in connectivity, energy interests and regional access, with Chabahar Port serving as a central project. In May 2024, India and Iran signed a long-term contract for the development of the Shahid Beheshti Port Terminal at Chabahar, and India later described the project as a 10-year commitment to equip and operate cargo and container terminal facilities.
India’s relationship with the UAE has moved on a parallel but broader economic track. The two countries signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in February 2022, and Indian diplomatic sources describe the UAE-India relationship as a comprehensive strategic partnership spanning trade, investment, energy, technology and infrastructure.
Those ties gave India a practical reason to avoid a zero-sum approach. With Iran, New Delhi values connectivity into Afghanistan and Central Asia through Chabahar. With the UAE, it has one of its most important Gulf economic partners and a platform for trade agreements, energy cooperation and investment. The declaration’s language reflected this dual-track diplomacy: firm enough to be meaningful, but flexible enough to keep both sides inside the tent.
Why the Consensus Matters for BRICS
The New Delhi Declaration came after a visible setback. In May 2026, a BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi ended without a joint statement because of ‘differing views’ on the Middle East; India issued a chair’s statement instead. AP reported that the divisions were particularly visible between Iran and the UAE, underlining how the bloc’s expansion had made consensus-building more difficult.
That earlier failure made the September declaration more consequential. BRICS promotes itself as a platform for the Global South, but its credibility depends on whether members can settle on common positions when their interests diverge. India’s success gave the grouping a single leaders’ text at a moment when conflict, sanctions and energy insecurity were threatening to overshadow economic cooperation.
The result also showed how political consensus can be built through layered negotiation rather than public pressure. India did not need Iran and the UAE to agree on every interpretation of the conflict. It needed them to accept shared language on restraint, sovereignty, civilian protection, maritime flows and development cooperation.
What Happens Next
The diplomatic test now moves from declaration to implementation. PM Modi urged BRICS members to turn summit agreements into tangible, time-bound action, moving them from ‘files to real-life impact’, according to AP.
The next phase will show whether the New Delhi Declaration can support practical regional cooperation or whether renewed tensions will again slow BRICS decision-making. For India, the immediate gain is clear: it demonstrated that consensus-building remains possible inside an enlarged BRICS, even when strategic alliances and regional conflicts pull members in different directions.
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