Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar called for “safe, unimpeded maritime flows” through international waters, including the Strait of Hormuz, as the politically divided BRICS nations gathered in New Delhi on Thursday.
“We meet at a time of considerable flux in international relations,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks. “There is a growing expectation, particularly from emerging markets and developing countries, that BRICS will play a constructive and stabilizing role,” he said.
Jaishankar’s call for stability comes amid internal divisions within the grouping that has expanded over the course of the years, dw.com reports.
BRICS now includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in addition to the original members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
BRICS members Iran and UAE were especially at odds ahead of the meeting because of the Iran war.
Experts now fear that the grouping may struggle to agree on a common formulation to even describe US-Isarel war on Iran and the broader conflict in the Middle East.
Jaishankar also called on leaders to “address the increasing resort to unilateral coercive measures and sanctions inconsistent with international law and the UN Charter.”
