Sheikh Khaled leads UAE at BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro

On behalf of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, is leading the UAE delegation at the 17th BRICS Summit, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, from 6-7 July 2025.

The UAE joined BRICS during the 15th BRICS Summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2023.

The UAE’s membership reflects its commitment to multilateral cooperation and constructive dialogue through platforms that represent developing and emerging economies on the global stage, while leveraging cultural diversity to promote peace, security and development both regionally and internationally.

The BRICS nations will convene for a summit in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around US President Donald Trump’s policies.

The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies including China, India, Russia, South Africa and host Brazil, which represent nearly half of the world’s population and 40 per cent of its GDP.

Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have to navigate the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will miss the summit for the first time.

Beijing will instead be represented by Premier Li Qiang.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, will not travel to Brazil, but is set to participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, fresh from a 12-day conflict with Israel and a skirmish with the United States, will also be absent, as will his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, a Brazilian government source told reporters.

Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit, as well as the grim anticipation of tariffs threatened by Trump and due next week.

Trump said that starting Friday, his administration would send countries letters stating their tariff levels, as negotiations to avoid higher US levies enter the final stretch.

“We’re anticipating a summit with a cautious tone: it will be difficult to mention the United States by name in the final declaration,” Marta Fernandez, director of the BRICS Policy Center at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University, told AFP.

China, for example, “is trying to adopt a restrained position on the Middle East,” Fernandez said, pointing out that Beijing was also in tricky tariff negotiations with Washington.

WAM/ Agencies