India invites Bangladesh PM Rahman to BRICS summit
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- India invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to the outreach session of the 18th BRICS Summit in his capacity as current BIMSTEC chair, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed on August 4.
- New Delhi will host the annual BRICS summit on September 12 and 13, with the agenda including the economic consequences of the West Asia crisis.
- Rahman assumed Bangladesh's top office in February 2026, and India had previously extended a separate invitation for a bilateral visit, Jaiswal said at a regular media briefing.
- BRICS leaders expected to attend include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Russian President Vladimir Putin; the grouping expanded in 2024 to add Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
- BRICS now represents approximately 49.5% of global population, 40% of global GDP, and 26% of global trade across its 11 member states.
- BIMSTEC, comprising India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan, is one of several regional groupings whose heads have been invited to the outreach session under standard BRICS practice.
Why it matters: India is using its BRICS chairmanship to position itself as a convener between the expanded BRICS bloc and South Asian regional groupings, inviting Bangladesh's new PM in his BIMSTEC capacity rather than as a bilateral state visit. This signals New Delhi's effort to integrate BIMSTEC into its BRICS outreach at a summit that also draws Xi, Pezeshkian, and Putin alongside discussion of the West Asia crisis's economic fallout.
