Half-Day BRICS Roundtable

On

The 18th BRICS Summit

India’s Priorities and the Future of the Global South

8th September, Tuesday, 2026

The Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Kochi, in collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kerala, is organising a stakeholder roundtable on The 18th BRICS Summit: India’s Priorities and the Future of the Global South. The event aims to bring together BRICS experts to assess the key priorities emerging from India’s Chairship and discuss what India should seek to deliver at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.

An expanded BRICS now spans a wider and more diverse set of political and economic interests, raising questions about whether the grouping can develop greater coherence even as it grows. As India prepares to host this year’s BRICS Summit in New Delhi, its choices on agenda-setting, deliverables, and priorities will shape not only the immediate outcomes of the Chairship but also BRICS’s longer-term relevance as a platform for the Global South.

The roundtable will bring together policymakers, academics, and researchers to deliberate on the future direction of an expanded BRICS, India’s priorities and deliverables at the Summit, BRICS’s potential to advance development, trade and South-South cooperation, and how India can balance its BRICS engagement with strategic autonomy amid its relationships with the US, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific.

The roundtable is expected to produce a concise brief capturing key insights and recommendations on India’s BRICS Chairship and the grouping’s future direction, along with a set of 3-4 priority areas for post-summit engagement between India and BRICS members informing CPPR’s subsequent research and policy work.

Speakers: 

Dr. G. Gopakumar, Former Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala (CUK). 

Mr. Manoj P.V, Senior Fellow (China Studies) at CPPR, Kochi.

Moderator:

Dr. Jojin V John, Assistant Professor at the School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kerala.