Parliamentary delegations are gathering in New Delhi for the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum, scheduled for October 26 and 27 in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan. The announced programme places people-centred development at the centre of discussions on institutions, technology, international cooperation and sustainability. This October 26 guide explains the programme and the questions that will determine how useful its eventual outcomes are.
The distinction between a programme and a completed proceeding matters on the opening day. The Lok Sabha Secretariat’s October 25 release announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation and meetings with visiting delegation leaders. Those activities remain scheduled in the sources reviewed here. A later official account will be needed to establish attendance, speeches delivered and documents adopted.
At a glance
- The forum is scheduled for October 26–27 at Samvidhan Sadan in New Delhi.
- Four announced sessions cover resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.
- Preparatory bilateral meetings are confirmed; forum decisions require their own official record.
Two days, several kinds of parliamentary exchange
The October 22 programme announcement describes more than a single plenary discussion. Alongside the main sessions, it envisages exchanges among parliamentary officials and a meeting involving chairs of international-affairs committees. That combination creates different opportunities: political discussion among representatives, practical discussion among administrators and more specialised consideration of parliamentary diplomacy.
A committee chair’s contribution can be different from that of a presiding officer. Committees examine particular subjects and can develop detailed institutional knowledge. Parliamentary administrators, meanwhile, work with procedures, records and the practical operation of legislatures. Bringing these groups into related discussions can connect broad political themes with the methods used in everyday parliamentary work.
This is parliamentary diplomacy. Its immediate product may be a statement, an exchange of experience or a commitment to continue discussions. Any proposal requiring domestic legislation would still have to proceed through the relevant national process. Readers evaluating the forum should first identify the institution making a commitment and then examine what action that institution can actually take.
Four sessions and the questions behind them
Resilience: keeping institutions useful under pressure
The resilience theme invites a practical question: how do parliaments continue to represent people when conditions change rapidly? An institution needs procedures that support scrutiny, debate and the communication of decisions. Our assessment is that useful exchanges would explain the problem addressed, the procedure chosen and what was learned from using it. A general endorsement of strong institutions provides less guidance on its own.
For readers, the test is specificity. If a delegation describes an administrative reform, look for the task it improved and the evidence offered. A practice that works in one legislature may need adaptation elsewhere because constitutional arrangements, committee powers and available resources differ. Sharing experience can therefore be valuable without implying that one model should be copied unchanged.
Innovation: putting people at the centre of technology
Artificial intelligence and digital technologies feature in the announced agenda. The parliamentary question extends beyond acquiring a new tool. Representatives may need to consider who can use it, who may be excluded and how a decision can be explained. These are analytical questions prompted by the programme, rather than a claim that the forum has already approved an AI policy.
A useful discussion could distinguish public-facing services from internal administrative applications. A system helping staff organise documents raises different questions from one that gives citizens procedural information. In either setting, clear responsibility and a way to correct mistakes matter. Any published outcome should be read for its actual scope: an aspiration, a proposed principle and an adopted domestic rule are different stages.
Cooperation: representation and parliamentary diplomacy
The cooperation theme includes global governance and the representation of developing countries. Parliamentary dialogue can help delegations understand the priorities and constraints of their counterparts. It can also make disagreements more visible. Agreement on a broad theme should not automatically be interpreted as agreement on every institution, reform proposal or international dispute associated with it.
The committee-level meeting offers a potentially useful setting for this work because foreign-affairs committees engage with international questions through domestic parliamentary processes. The eventual record should show whether discussion produces a continuing exchange, a shared proposal or simply a statement of positions. Each can be reported accurately, provided its limits are clear.
Sustainability: following broad goals into practical scrutiny
Sustainable and inclusive development is the fourth major theme. In parliamentary terms, the useful connection is between an objective and the scrutiny of implementation. Questions about access, spending and outcomes help turn a broad ambition into something citizens can evaluate. This is our reading of the agenda’s practical significance, rather than a summary of proceedings that have not yet been documented.
Any eventual recommendation will be stronger as a public document if readers can identify its intended beneficiaries and the next action. A statement can set direction, but follow-up reporting should establish whether a committee, legislature or other institution accepts responsibility for carrying the work forward. Without that link, it is difficult to assess progress over time.
What is already confirmed from the preparatory meetings
The Secretariat’s October 25 account reports that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met a Russian parliamentary delegation led by State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin. It identifies United Nations Security Council reform, terrorism and continued parliamentary exchanges among the matters discussed. The same release reports meetings with delegations from Cuba, Egypt and Belarus. These are confirmed preparatory contacts, distinct from the subsequent forum sessions.
The earlier programme also envisaged work by delegation secretaries on a joint statement. Preparation of a document does not establish that its final wording has been adopted. When the statement becomes available, its verbs will matter: language welcoming discussion carries a different commitment from language assigning an action or setting a timetable.
How to read the outcome
It will also be useful to distinguish the collective record from individual speeches. A delegation may present a position that other participants do not endorse. A bilateral meeting may cover a subject absent from the joint statement. Reporting those formats accurately helps readers understand where agreement exists and where discussion is continuing. The forum’s institutional value can include better understanding and continuing contact, even where there is no immediate legislative result. Evaluating that value requires the record of what participants did, rather than an assumption that every announced theme produced a common decision.
Three questions will guide our follow-up: what was actually agreed, who is responsible for the next step and how readers will be able to observe progress. The published text and the official account of proceedings should answer those questions more reliably than an advance programme or a promotional headline. Follow subsequent updates in our Politics section and broader international coverage.
Sources
Lok Sabha Secretariat update, October 25; forum programme announcement, October 22. Sections interpreting the agenda are editorial analysis, not reported decisions.
Prepared with AI assistance. Editorial responsibility: Ajay Mahawar, Taaza Khabar. Updated October 26, 2026.
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