India’s Foreign Minister: evolving multipolar order requires expanded cooperation within BRICS, SCO and UN

The emerging multipolar world requires broader engagement among countries on international platforms. This was stated by India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, via videoconference at the Second International Conference "Russia and India: Towards a New Agenda for Bilateral Relations" in Moscow. His remarks were reported by ANI, a partner of TV BRICS.

"The evolving multipolar order necessitates greater cooperation, including through BRICS, SCO, G20 and the UN. India, during its BRICS chairmanship with a humanity-first and a people-centric approach, looks forward to closely working with Russia to address shared challenges in a balanced and inclusive manner"

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar India’s External Affairs Minister

The head of the Indian Foreign Ministry also emphasised that India and Russia share a special and privileged strategic partnership based on trust and mutual respect. He added that the visit of President of Russia Vladimir Putin to India in December 2025 opened new horizons for cooperation, covering areas such as healthcare, student exchanges, maritime cooperation, trade, and others.

Photo: screenshot from Sergey Lavrov’s video address on the Russian Foreign Ministry website

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, in his video address to conference participants, also emphasised the foreign policy coordination between the two countries. The minister highly appreciated New Delhi’s independent course, which strengthens India’s position as one of the major global centres in the emerging multipolar world, according to the ministry’s website.

"Strengthening the especially privileged strategic partnership with New Delhi remains among our unconditional foreign policy priorities. We highly appreciate that this approach is fully shared by our Indian friends. […] This year, India holds the BRICS chairmanship under the motto Strengthening Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Stability. We stand ready to provide comprehensive support to our Indian friends throughout their chairmanship"

Sergey Lavrov Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Lavrov also confirmed that the parties will continue working to increase bilateral trade. According to him, in 2025 the volume of mutual trade amounted to around US$60 billion, and the leaders of the two countries have set a target to raise this figure to US$100 billion by 2030. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that 96 per cent of trade between the countries is currently conducted in national currencies.

Jaishankar, for his part, described Russia as India’s key partner in the field of civilian nuclear energy, highlighting the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant project as a vivid example of successful cooperation. The minister also noted that the opening of new Indian consulates in Kazan and Yekaterinburg will contribute to strengthening economic, cultural and social ties between the two countries.

Photo: TV BRICS

The conference was divided into three thematic blocks: political, economic, and cultural and humanitarian, comprising plenary and special sessions. Aleksandra Burman, Director of the International Cooperation Department of the TV BRICS International Media Network, took part in the panel discussion “Development of Cooperation in Culture”. For the second consecutive year, the TV BRICS International Media Network is acting as the international information partner of the conference.

“India and Russia, which were the founders of BRICS, should seek to return BRICS to its original mandate, which is to provide us with a collective voice in the new world order [...] and a more substantial role in global governance structures. We view BRICS as a very important and influential structure through which countries seek a role in broader global governance, and that is how I see it,” said former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and former Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, T. S. Tirumurti, in an interview with TV BRICS.