Behind Closed Doors at the BRICS National Security Meeting in New Delhi

The 16th BRICS High-Level Meeting of National Security Representatives concluded behind closed doors in New Delhi on June 23. This marked the first high-level political and security consultation following BRICS’ expansion to 11 member states. The entire session was held in private; only a brief official communiqué was issued to the public, while most practical arrangements remained verbal understandings reached in camera. The meeting was chaired by Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor. Senior security officials from China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, together with newly admitted members including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt, attended the talks and held multiple closed-door bilateral meetings on the sidelines.

Sources close to the proceedings confirmed that all participants collectively endorsed the new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. The delegates explicitly rejected bloc confrontation led by the United States. Members reached an implicit consensus to maintain strategic coordination within BRICS and refrain from joining exclusive small-group military alliances. All parties upheld the principle of indivisible security and agreed to resolve regional flashpoints such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Middle Eastern tensions through diplomatic negotiations instead of taking sides in geopolitical rivalries.

Energy and critical mineral supply chains turned out to be the most substantive topic of the closed negotiations. In response to the Minerals Security Partnership led by the United States and its allies, which aims to build exclusive supply chains for rare earths and strategic minerals, member states reached an informal action plan. Resource-rich BRICS nations will gradually establish an internal allocation mechanism and share intelligence on lithium, rare earths and non-ferrous metals to reduce reliance on Western pricing systems and shipping routes. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and South Africa pledged to align with this framework, making energy and mineral coordination a core pillar of BRICS security cooperation to counter external supply chain blockades.

Eight areas of joint cooperation were finalized with actionable plans: counter-terrorism and terrorist financing; regulation of AI abuse and cyberattacks; prevention of an arms race in outer space; joint responses to cross-border epidemics in Africa; crackdowns on drug trafficking and transnational financial crimes; and an emergency consultation mechanism for geopolitical crises. Moving forward, national security teams can hold urgent teleconferences to align public statements whenever major global incidents break out.

India maintained a carefully balanced stance. As a Quad member, New Delhi avoided taking rigid sides. It preserved solidarity among BRICS members while keeping room for external partnerships. No binding written agreements on mineral and security cooperation were signed, in order to prevent unnecessary friction with Washington. The Russian delegation adopted a moderate tone, focusing on advancing practical resource cooperation rather than amplifying great-power rivalry.

It was formally confirmed that China will host the next BRICS high-level national security meeting next year. The verbal consensus reached in New Delhi will then be translated into institutional documents, turning collaboration on resource security, counter-terrorism and cyber security into regular programmes.

In summary, this New Delhi session smoothed out institutional frictions after BRICS enlargement. While the public rhetoric centres on multilateralism, member states have quietly pushed forward coordination on southern resource industrial chains to counter the Western “friend-shoring” system. Further details on mining cooperation will be discussed at the working group level without high-profile publicity in the short term.

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