Want fair trade practices, not barriers: Jaishankar at BRICS meet

India on Monday urged BRICS members to safeguard the integrity of the international trading system, stressing that it must remain open, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory, with special provisions for developing countries.

The summit, chaired by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, brought together leaders of the five-member grouping — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to discuss global governance reforms, trade and pressing security challenges.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who represented Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a virtual BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Brazil, said India strongly believes these foundational principles must be “protected and nurtured” at a time when global trade faces rising barriers and politicisation.

Notably, India was the only major BRICS member not represented by its head of state at the virtual summit on tariffs. The development comes just a week after the SCO meeting involving Modi, Xi and Putin, a gathering widely interpreted by observers as a rebuke to the US.

“The international trading system is based on the foundational principles of open, fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, inclusive, equitable and a rules-based approach with special and differential treatment for developing countries. India strongly believes that this should be protected and nurtured,” Jaishankar told fellow leaders.

The minister’s intervention came amid what he described as a period of “genuine concern” for the world, marked by the pandemic’s aftermath, conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia, volatile investment flows, climate shocks and a slowdown in the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

He cautioned that rising protectionism, linking trade to non-trade matters and unequal market access could further destabilise the global economy. “The world requires constructive and cooperative approaches to promote trade that is sustainable. Increasing barriers and complicating transactions will not help,” he said, urging BRICS members to review intra-bloc trade flows where, he admitted, India faces some of its largest deficits.

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Jaishankar also pressed for the diversification of supply chains, calling for more resilient and regionally self-sufficient models of production. “We must democratise manufacturing and production and encourage their growth in different geographies,” he said.

On the geopolitical front, he called for an urgent resolution of ongoing conflicts, warning that disruptions in shipping and energy supplies were disproportionately hurting the Global South. “A selective protection cannot be a global answer. An early end to the hostilities and undertaking diplomacy to ensure a durable solution is the obvious pathway,” he remarked.

The minister further underlined India’s longstanding demand for reforms in global institutions, particularly the United Nations Security Council, arguing that gridlocks had “undermined the search for common ground” on critical issues.

Climate change, too, figured in his speech, with Jaishankar lamenting that both climate action and climate justice were “slipping in global priorities”. He urged BRICS to consider initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Global Biofuels Alliance.