Under the stewardship of India, BRICS’ engagements have continued since January 1, 2026. India will host about 250 meetings in the calendar year. The mainstays of the Indian chairship are building resilience, fostering innovation, consolidating cooperation and ensuring sustainability.
Having consolidated experience over the past two years as a member of BRICS, Ethiopia has continued its effective participation. Taking stock of its previous engagements and based on its BRICS Engagement Strategy, the BRICS ministerial coordination committee adopted the outlook for this year.
This year is uniquely important for Ethiopia as it looks forward to finalizing its accession to the New Development Bank, starting preparatory works for Ethiopia’s BRICS chairship after a few years, and hosting BRICS events. In addition, the Ministerial Committee has adopted the Communication Strategy which aims to deliver a unified and strategic framework for informing and engaging a wide range of internal and external stakeholders regarding the rationale for Ethiopia’s membership and the role it plays.
Since January 2026, India has hosted more than 20 meetings. Ethiopia took part in these meetings with the participation of respective sectoral institutions. The meetings covered a range of issues including cooperation in finance, tax, infrastructure, trade, employment, agriculture, anti-corruption, and cooperation among institutions on the non-governmental track.
Ethiopia will give primacy to economic cooperation, the agenda on climate change, in alignment with its COP32 presidency, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and regional and global issues of critical importance.
Ethiopia’s BRICS membership demonstrates its broadening diplomatic engagement and increasing partnership with all states. It embodies its longstanding history of multilateral diplomacy, the foreign policy fundamentals of diversifying partnership, expanding economic diplomacy, and the commitment to a renewed multilateral system and South-South cooperation.
The BRICS platform enabled Ethiopia to reflect its foreign policy and national interests; to garner support from BRICS countries for its national, regional and global aspirations and agendas; and to further strengthen and expand its bilateral relations with member countries. Ethiopia’s membership to BRICS also boosts the relevance of the partnership to the global south and expands BRICS’ policy horizon to the diverse global contexts that Ethiopia brings into the partnership. As well, Ethiopia remains committed to contributing its fair share to the consolidation of BRICS.