Leaders set to fine-tune incubator network, startup fund, supply chain cooperation framework

An illuminated Rail Bhavan ahead of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on Thursday. (Amit Mehra)

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts leaders, ministers and officials from 32 countries and agencies for the BRICS Leaders’ Summit, a host of initiatives are on the table — a BRICS Incubator Network, a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund, a BRICS Logistics Supply-Chain Cooperation Framework will be among the possible outcomes.

Much of them have been discussed by the BRICS Sherpas, and will be fine-tuned by the leaders on September 12 and 13.

Apart from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the summit will be attended by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, UAE’s Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed Ali. Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is not coming since he had come earlier for the AI summit in February this year. Brazil will be represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim will be attending as one of the 10 partner countries, along with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Vietnam Prime Minister Lee Minh Hung.

Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr will be coming as the ASEAN chair, and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani is coming as Chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus and New Development Bank’s President Dilma Roussef will be among those in attendance as well.

The BRICS leaders will discuss the BRICS Incubator Network which is a “digital interface/network to connect National Nodal Agencies, selected incubators and start-ups across BRICS countries, facilitate registration and linkages with participating incubators, and enable referral of qualified start-ups to incubators in other BRICS countries”, officials said.

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The BRICS Startup Innovation Fund is aimed to catalyse financing for early and growth stage startups and foster innovation driven entrepreneurship in BRICS countries, officials said.

The BRICS Logistics Supply-Chain Cooperation Framework is going to be a voluntary, consensus-based framework to strengthen cross-sector transport logistics resilience and sustainability. It aims to address fragmented supply chains and weak connectivity by promoting technical exchange, knowledge-sharing on cargo and shipping services, localised assembly and manufacturing ecosystems, and capacity-building — while advancing environmentally-sustainable and climate resilient logistics practices.

This is especially relevant in the context of movement of goods amid the uncertainty due to the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with Indonesia joining in 2025.

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Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam became BRICS ‘partner countries’ last year.

BRICS emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of global GDP and around 26 per cent of global trade.

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 27 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting and writing explainers and analysis on foreign affairs for about 19 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He won the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award, 2023, for the second time for his reporting of the Oct 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More