Discuss how the 2026 wars in West Asia and Ukraine have reshaped the agenda of multilateral groupings like BRICS. Illustrate with reference to the 18th BRICS Summit.

The World Bank's April 2026 Commodity Markets Outlook projects a 24% surge in energy prices, the sharpest since 2022, following the West Asia war [1]. Such shocks have pushed groupings like BRICS from long-horizon development agendas towards immediate crisis management, visible at the 18th BRICS Summit (Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, 12–13 September 2026) [5].

From development finance to energy and food security

• Attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz — carrying about 35% of seaborne crude — produced the largest oil supply shock on record [1].
• India, importing nearly 88% of its crude [3], and other import-dependent members have made energy security a leaders'-level concern rather than a technical one.
• The Ukraine war's continuing drag on fertiliser and grain flows has similarly elevated food security on the summit agenda [1].

Resilience as the organising idea

• India's chairship theme — "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" — explicitly foregrounds resilient supply chains, trade and MSME cooperation [2].
• Preparatory tracks carried the same framing: the 13th BRICS Urbanisation Forum (June 2026) adopted a declaration on resilient, people-centred urban development [4].

Crisis diplomacy and a wider Global South voice

• The 2024 expansion (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE) means the bloc now includes parties directly affected by the West Asia conflict, turning BRICS into a forum for non-Western framing of the crisis.
• The presence of UN Secretary-General António Guterres alongside Putin and Xi positions BRICS beside UN mechanisms and revives the demand for UNSC reform [5].
• For the host, receiving Putin for a defence bilateral and Xi — his first India visit since 2019 — while retaining Quad ties, demonstrates multi-alignment in practice [5].

The wars have thus converted BRICS from a growth-convergence club into a resilience and crisis-response platform. Institutionalising energy and food buffers through the New Development Bank and local-currency trade would give this shift durable content. For India, chairing a plural bloc amid conflict reaffirms strategic autonomy while advancing SDG 2 and SDG 7.