ASEAN’s ‘strategic opportunity’: Chair Marcos to visit India for BRICS meeting

• President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will represent ASEAN at the BRICS Summit in India from September 12 to 13, marking his second visit to the country in over a year.
• During the summit, Marcos aims to discuss the Philippines' priorities as ASEAN chair, focusing on peace, security, and economic prosperity, while also engaging with leaders of major emerging economies.
• The visit comes amid geopolitical tensions, particularly regarding the US-Iran conflict, which is expected to be a significant topic at the summit, highlighting the challenges faced by both BRICS and ASEAN.

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MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be flying to India from September 12 to 13, his second trip to the South Asian country in just over a year. This time, Marcos is flying out to represent the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the BRICS Summit. 

“Through this visit, the President seeks to ensure that our modern partnerships remain open, resilient and capable of delivering prosperity to our people,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Analyn Ratonel said in a media briefing on Wednesday, September 9. 

Marcos will be accompanied by First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda, and Finance Secretary Frederick Go. 

What is BRICS? 

BRICS is a group of “major emerging markets and developing countries… that serves as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global as well as regional significance, and issues of global political and economic governance” according to the official website by chair India. 

Its members are Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. 

The group’s name is derived from its founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. When membership expanded to include South Africa, it was officially renamed BRICS. Despite its further expansion in 2024, the name has not changed. 

Several countries are partners of BRICS — Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. 

That means there’s an overlap between ASEAN and BRICS. Indonesia is a member of both countries while Malaysia and Vietnam are ASEAN members and BRICS partners. 

At the core of BRICS and its founding is the “premise that international institutions were overly dominated by Western powers and had ceased to serve developing countries,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Its 2024 expansion, CFR notes, meant the informal grouping now made up more than one-fourth of the world’s economy and almost half its population. 

It’s context that’s important to better understand what BRICS mean in 2026. 

Why BRICS? 

Although Marcos will be the first Philippine president to attend a BRICS Summit, that he’s there as ASEAN chair and not as the Philippine chief executive is an important distinction. 

Marcos has expressed openness to joining BRICS — but pronouncements have not gone beyond that. 

While in India, said Ratonel, Marcos will “explain to BRICS members the priorities of the Philippines as ASEAN chair, which are peace and security, people empowerment, and prosperity.” 

 “Ang pakikilahok na ito ay isang strategic opportunity upang subaybayan ang mga emerging economic frameworks at irepresenta ang mga prayoridad at pananaw ng rehiyon habang direktang nakikipag-ugnayan sa mga pinuno ng mga major emerging economies,” said Ratonel. 

(This participation is a strategic opportunity to keep track of emerging economic frameworks and to represent the priorities and views of the region while also directly engaging with leaders of major emerging economies.) 

Informal groups like BRICS and the decades-old ASEAN face common challenges, even as they have been approaching and handling these challenges differently, both as collectives and individual nations. 

Among those challenges are shifts and threats to long-established international rules, norms, and institutions — including those that BRICS was formed to challenge. 

The United States’ war on Iran, a BRICS member, is expected to be a top issue during the New Delhi summit. 

The US and Israel-led war, which began in late February 2026, has had a devastating impact beyond the immediate region. Several ASEAN members, the Philippines especially, have had to bear the brunt of rising oil prices caused by the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Within BRICS, there is also tension — Tehran and Abu Dhabi are on opposing sides of the conflict. The UAE stopped trade and financial transactions with Iran in August after it was hit by Iranian missiles. 

Foreign policy experts said the key test for the bloc will be finding language on the Middle East crisis that both Abu Dhabi and Tehran can accept, clearing the way for a joint declaration.

Such a joint statement was unlikely to influence the current geopolitical landscape, but will demonstrate, for instance, that a forum of emerging countries could be united against economically debilitating policies like Western sanctions, they said.

PH-India, BRICS ties 

While in India as ASEAN chair, Marcos will, of course, still try to champion Philippine interests. Bilateral ties between the chairs of the two groups have strengthened in recent years, with Marcos and Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessing the elevation of ties to a Strategic Partnership in August 2025. 

Ratonel said that while in India, the two leaders will be tackling the progress of the partnership and the implementation of a “five-year plan of action.” 

Marcos is also scheduled to hold meetings with Indian business leaders, mostly to follow-up on investment commitments made a year ago. 

The DFA has yet to confirm if Marcos will be meeting with other leaders — from BRICS or its partner countries — during the short visit. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are expected to attend. UAE will be represented by by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 

While Marcos recently met with Putin in June 2026, it has been three years since Marcos met with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco. – Reuters/Rappler.com