Xi Jinping at BRICS New Delhi Summit: Five Proposals for the Global South

On September 13, 2026, the 18th BRICS leaders' summit opened its second plenary session in New Delhi, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing. Xi Jinping's address, titled "Strengthening the Foundation of BRICS Cooperation and Expanding the Power of the Global South," arrived at a moment when the bloc has grown from five members into a much broader coalition of emerging economies. For anyone tracking how the Global South organizes itself economically and diplomatically, this speech is a compact map of Beijing's priorities.

Key Takeaways

• The framing is "Global South first." Xi described the collective rise of the Global South as the key driver of a multipolar world, while acknowledging overlapping risks and instability. The message positions BRICS not as a counter-bloc but as a stabilizing force that should act "positively, steadily and constructively" in international affairs.
• Five concrete cooperation proposals were announced. These cover AI open-source access, trade and investment facilitation, digital industry, smart manufacturing, and science and technology talent cultivation. Each comes with a specific Chinese commitment rather than a general statement of intent.
• AI is the headline initiative. China said it will take the lead in building a BRICS AI open-source zone, support collaboration on large language model development and application, and run dedicated AI training programs. This is a notable shift from earlier BRICS language on the digital economy, which was largely aspirational.
• Trade gets an institutional layer. Beijing proposed a BRICS special economic zone partnership with a smart portal for policy alignment, and announced it will host a BRICS services trade forum next year. Services trade is a newer focus area for the grouping, which has historically concentrated on goods and infrastructure.
• Digital and industrial cooperation are paired. A BRICS digital industry cloud platform would host digital skills training, technical exchange and industry matchmaking, while a separate track would help member states build smart factories and shared standards for manufacturing upgrades.
• Talent pipelines are being formalized. China proposed a BRICS engineers' training alliance with joint programs and mutual recognition of competency standards, plus a youth science and innovation exchange scheme aimed at high-end technical talent.
• The "Big BRICS" concept demands delivery. Xi argued that a larger bloc must produce larger results, urging members to leverage their position between emerging markets and the broader Global South to keep supply chains stable and build an integrated market.
• China's 15th Five-Year Plan was presented as a global offer. Xi framed the plan, which begins this year, as both a domestic development blueprint and a cooperation list for the world, tied to high-quality growth, higher-level opening up, the Global Development Initiative and Belt and Road projects.

Deeper Analysis

The most revealing element of this speech is not the diplomatic language but the specificity of the five proposals. AI open-source infrastructure, a digital industry cloud, an engineers' alliance — these are technical, verifiable commitments that create institutional dependencies over time. If a BRICS AI open-source zone becomes the default environment for member states' model development, China gains a durable position in setting standards for a technology where governance frameworks are still unsettled globally. That is a far more consequential play than any communiqué language about multipolarity.

Equally significant is the trade architecture. Special economic zones and a services trade forum may sound modest, but they address a real gap: intra-BRICS trade has long lagged behind the group's combined economic weight, hampered by weak logistics, payment friction and regulatory mismatch. Building a policy-alignment portal is a quiet attempt to reduce those frictions without requiring the kind of binding treaty commitments that would scare off non-aligned members.

The attendance list tells its own story. Alongside the original members, leaders and representatives from Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Ethiopia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia took part, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres also present. This is a bloc that now spans energy producers, manufacturing hubs and transit economies across three continents — a coalition broad enough that consensus is genuinely hard, which is precisely why China is pushing bilateral-style initiatives that can proceed without unanimous buy-in.

Looking ahead, the test will be implementation. Open-source AI zones and cloud platforms require funding, governance and technical capacity that many member states lack. China's willingness to front-load investment will determine whether these proposals become operating infrastructure or remain summit declarations. Watch the services trade forum next year as the first measurable checkpoint, and watch whether the engineers' alliance attracts participation beyond a handful of committed states.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly did China commit to on artificial intelligence? China said it would take the lead in establishing a BRICS AI open-source zone, support cooperation on large language model development and deployment, and organize specialized AI training sessions. The stated goal is to build an open ecosystem rather than a closed, proprietary one.

Why does the "Global South" framing matter so much here? It reframes BRICS from a five-member club into a representative voice for a much larger group of developing countries. That framing gives the bloc diplomatic weight beyond its GDP share and justifies its push for reform of institutions like the WTO and international financial architecture.

How does China's 15th Five-Year Plan connect to BRICS cooperation? Xi presented the plan as both a domestic roadmap and a cooperation list for other countries, linking it to the Global Development Initiative and Belt and Road projects. In practice, that means China is signaling that its own growth priorities will be packaged as shared opportunities for BRICS and Global South partners.

Source: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34061035