NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of nine other BRICS member countries on Friday planted a total of 10 saplings of the great banyan tree in the verdant lawns of the Bharat Mandapam complex on day one of the Summit.
India is hosting the 18th BRICS summit on September 12 and 13 in New Delhi, which is being attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, among others.
The Global South must become a "rule shaper", and the existing "pyramid of privilege" structure in global governance must give way to a "platform of partnership", Prime Minister Modi said in his address at the BRICS Summit.
The prime minister also unveiled a 10-point roadmap for global governance reform under the BRICS framework while advocating for a 'Seafarers' Emergency Support Network' to safeguard sailors facing heightened risks from ongoing global and regional crises.
A New Delhi Declaration was adopted at the end of the meeting on day one of the Summit.
On Saturday evening, Modi and various other world leaders also visited the Bharat Innovates Exhibition zone hosted at the Bharat Mandapam complex and then also planted trees on the lawns of the mega convention centre.
Modi and nine other leaders stood in a row with the Bharat Mandapam building in their backdrop and planted a sapling each.
All the saplings were of the great banyan tree, people familiar with the matter said.
Sudhakar Dalela, India's BRICS Sherpa, at a press briefing held at the International Media Centre at the venue later, said, the planting of the trees by the leaders was in line with the 'Ek Ped Maa ke Naam' campaign and also in consonance with the theme of the BRICS Summit.
He reiterated that India's BRICS chairship is guided by the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability', reflecting Prime Minister Modi's vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of 'Humanity First'.
India assumed the BRICS chairship on January 1. The year 2026 also marks a milestone as BRICS completes 20 years since its establishment.
Marking two decades of BRICS, two commemorative postage stamps were released at the end of the proceedings on day 1.
In a major diplomatic victory for India, the BRICS grouping adopted a consensus joint declaration on Saturday after overcoming sharp differences between the United Arab Emirates and Tehran regarding the West Asia conflict, but skipped any direct mention of the US strikes on Iran or the Iranian military's attacks on several Gulf Arab nations.
Dalela, when asked how a declaration was achieved, he said, "conversations have been taking place at various levels" already, and it is because of these engagements that "we were able to forge a consensus".
