Beijing [China], September 10 : Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in the national capital from September 12 to 13, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday, setting the stage for a closely watched India-China engagement on the sidelines of the major multilateral gathering.
According to a statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, President Xi will travel to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the summit.
"At the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13," the statement read.
The confirmation comes after weeks of anticipation over Beijing's representation at the summit and amid signs of renewed diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Beijing.
India is hosting the 18th BRICS Leaders' Summit on September 12 and 13 at Bharat Mandapam, with the expanded grouping expected to deliberate on issues ranging from trade and financial cooperation to technology, artificial intelligence, energy security, climate action and reforms of global institutions.
Xi's visit is particularly significant, as it would mark his first trip to India since his informal meeting with Prime Minister Modi in Mamallapuram in 2019 for the 2nd India-China Informal Summit.
The visit also comes against the backdrop of efforts by the two sides to stabilise bilateral ties following years of tensions along the Line of Actual Control.
Any interaction between PM Modi and President Xi during the BRICS gathering is therefore expected to attract considerable diplomatic attention.
Ahead of the Chinese confirmation, India's Ambassador to China Vikram Doraiswami had made a strong case for using India's BRICS presidency to deepen cooperation between the two Asian powers.
In an opinion piece published in Chinese daily Global Times, Doraiswami said that India and China, as two of the world's most populous emerging economies, have a shared interest in maintaining a stable relationship.
He described a "stable, predictable, and amicable" India-China relationship as important not only for their combined population of 2.8 billion people but also for global peace, stability and prosperity.
"As we look toward the upcoming BRICS summit hosted by India, there is a valuable opportunity to deepen China-India cooperation on issues of mutual concern, from trade and connectivity to climate action, public health and the digital economy, while contributing constructively to a more balanced, inclusive and equitable global order," he said as quoted by Global Times.
Doraiswami also referred to remarks made by President Xi to PM Modi last year, underlining Beijing and New Delhi's potential to pursue cooperation despite their differences.
"Last year, President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Modi that China and India are cooperation partners, not rivals, and that the two countries are each other's development opportunities rather than threats. This perspective is in keeping with the long history of mutually beneficial contact between our two civilisations," he wrote.
The ambassador stressed that peace along the India-China border remains central to the broader relationship.
"Peace and tranquillity in the China-India border areas provide an essential foundation for this partnership," Doraiswami added.
He called for the relationship to move forward on the basis of "mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest", while emphasising that differences between the two countries should not automatically develop into disputes.
"In doing so, our partnership can contribute to the well-being of our two peoples and to a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world," the envoy highlighted.
The confirmation on Thursday follows a period of uncertainty over Xi's participation.
On September 8, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Beijing attached high importance to BRICS cooperation and supported India in successfully hosting the summit.
The Spokesperson was responding to a question about China's representation at the summit and Beijing's expectations from the meeting.
While reiterating China's support for India's BRICS presidency, Mao did not disclose whether Xi would attend at the time.
"As for your specific question, I currently have no information to share," Mao said.
The subsequent confirmation from the Chinese Foreign Ministry now puts Xi's attendance beyond doubt.
The announcement also follows a brief but symbolically important interaction between PM Modi and President Xi at the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit earlier this month.
On September 1, PM Modi and President Xi shared a handshake ahead of the family photograph at the SCO Summit in Bishkek, with Russian President Vladimir Putin also joining the interaction.
The moment came after PM Modi had invited President Xi to attend the BRICS Summit. President Xi had thanked PM Modi for the invitation and offered China's support to India's BRICS presidency.
With Xi now confirmed for the New Delhi summit, the possibility of substantive India-China engagement on the margins of BRICS has emerged as one of the key diplomatic developments surrounding the meeting.
India's 2026 BRICS presidency is being conducted under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", with New Delhi seeking to place Global South priorities at the centre of the grouping's agenda.
The two-day summit is expected to address resilient global supply chains, cross-border payment systems, greater use of national currencies, MSME development, digital trade and artificial intelligence.
Energy security, climate resilience, development finance, expansion of the New Development Bank and reforms of multilateral financial and political institutions are also expected to feature prominently.
The enlarged 11-member core grouping comprises Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The wider BRICS framework also includes 10 partner countries -- Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam -- which participate as partner nations rather than full members.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also scheduled to attend.
India's fourth BRICS chairmanship in 2026 builds on its earlier presidencies in 2012, 2016 and 2021.
During its first chairmanship in 2012, New Delhi pushed to give greater institutional shape to BRICS and proposed a South-financed multilateral development bank, contributing to the establishment of the New Development Bank in 2014.
At the 2016 Goa Summit, India broadened the agenda to include counter-terrorism, regional connectivity and collective security.
In 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and military tensions along the Line of Actual Control, India hosted the grouping virtually under the theme "BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus", focusing on public health, economic recovery and maintaining diplomatic consensus.
In 2026, New Delhi is seeking to use its chairmanship to advance priorities related to financial inclusivity, sustainable development, technological cooperation and reform of global governance institutions.
Xi's confirmation comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin's confirmation of his visit to India for the summit.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Prime Minister Modi and the Russian President are also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting on Friday, September 11, ahead of the summit.
"We're looking forward to the President and Prime Minister having another bilateral meeting during the visit. It is scheduled. It is scheduled for Friday, so first, like always, they will touch on the bilateral agenda. Trade and economic cooperation is a very wide scope," Peskov said.
Peskov said the visit would provide an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations and also wished India success in hosting the BRICS Summit.
With Putin's engagement with PM Modi and Xi's confirmed presence in New Delhi, the BRICS summit is set to provide India with a major platform for high-level diplomacy involving two of its most consequential strategic partners.
For New Delhi, the gathering could therefore carry significance beyond the BRICS agenda, particularly as India seeks to balance cooperation with both Moscow and Beijing while advancing its broader Global South priorities.