Representatives of 11 BRICS member countries, as well as nine partner countries, will gather at the summit in Rio de Janeiro from July 6 to 7. The meeting will be chaired by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
- India will be represented at the summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is reportedly planning to stay in Brazil on a state visit after the talks.
- South Africa will be represented by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
- New members officially joining BRICS from January 1, 2025 will include Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
- However, the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro will be held without the personal participation of two key leaders – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Russian delegation will be headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while Vladimir Putin will take part in the summit via video link. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov explained that this decision “is connected with certain difficulties in the context of the requirements of the International Criminal Court”, since Brazil is a member of the ICC and was unable to provide guarantees that would allow the Russian leader to come to Rio de Janeiro.
Instead of leader Xi Jinping, China will be represented by Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang, who previously replaced the head of China at the G20 summit in India in 2023. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Beijing explained Xi Jinping’s absence by “scheduling difficulties”. However, SCMP sources suggest that the decision could be motivated by the Chinese leader’s reluctance to “play a supporting role” against the backdrop of a planned state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tensions between the two countries have been heightened amid the recent Indo-Pakistan conflict. Brazilian officials expressed disappointment with Beijing’s decision.
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