Hung attended a discussion at the 18th BRICS Summit in the Indian capital on September 13 under the theme “Resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainable development: Shaping the future of inclusive global growth.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country holds the BRICS presidency in 2026, chaired the summit.

The meeting brought together heads of state and government and other senior leaders from BRICS members, partner countries and invited nations, as well as international and regional organisations.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung to the 18th BRICS Summit. Photo: VGP
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Leaders attend a discussion at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. Photo: BRICS Organising Committee

The summit is the most important event of India’s 2026 BRICS presidency and marks 20 years since the group’s formation.

In his opening remarks, Modi said BRICS’ priorities for 2026 were to build foundations for resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability through a “people-centric, humanity-first” approach.

He also called for cooperation priorities to be translated into concrete outcomes that directly benefit people and proposed recommendations for global governance reform based on three pillars: representation, responsiveness and rule-making.

The summit discussed a range of international and regional issues, including reform of global governance and multilateral institutions, measures to maintain peace and regional stability, and ways to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation across three main pillars: politics and security, economy and finance, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

They also called for efforts to promote peace and build a more representative and equitable international order.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers his opening remarks at the summit. Photo: VGP

The leaders agreed to advance cooperation in trade, investment, finance and monetary affairs, science and technology, innovation, energy security, agriculture, food security, a just energy transition, environmental protection, healthcare and people-to-people exchanges.

They also stressed the need to ensure stable energy markets and uninterrupted energy flows from diverse sources, while strengthening the resilience and protection of critical energy infrastructure.

Balancing economic growth, social equity and the environment

Addressing the session on resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainable development, Hung said Vietnam supported closer coordination between BRICS and regional, interregional and global multilateral mechanisms.

Such cooperation, he said, should contribute to peace and stability while creating equal and sustainable development opportunities for all countries.

BRICS should play a greater role in promoting dialogue and cooperation, building trust and helping find solutions to global challenges, Hung said.

He also called for reform of the multilateral system to better address the interests of developing countries.

Welcoming BRICS’ priorities of resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainable development, the Vietnamese Prime Minister proposed three major directions for the group’s future role.

First, BRICS should move from responding to disruptions toward proactively strengthening the resilience and self-reliance of economies.

Hung called for greater cooperation and support to help developing countries improve flexible policymaking, governance and strategic forecasting.

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Prime Minister Le Minh Hung’s remarks were welcomed by the host country and leaders attending the summit. Photo: VGP

These efforts, he said, would help raise productivity and economic resilience, prevent crises and improve countries’ ability to respond to shocks, particularly in the economic and financial spheres and to current cross-border challenges.

Second, BRICS should shift its focus from simply expanding the scale of cooperation toward revitalising traditional growth drivers while creating new, inclusive and sustainable ones.

This would require stronger policy coordination on trade and investment and greater market openness, Hung said.

He called for better use of existing financial institutions and the mobilisation of additional long-term resources at reasonable costs, giving developing countries fairer access to financing for digital and green transitions.

Third, opportunities for cooperation in science, technology and innovation should be turned into concrete programmes and projects that serve countries’ shared interests.

Hung proposed joint research, workforce training and technology transfer, particularly in areas with broad economic potential such as artificial intelligence, digital technologies, smart agriculture and clean energy.

Discussing Vietnam’s development approach, Hung said the country puts people, institutional innovation, modern governance, science and technology at the foundation of development.

Vietnam seeks to balance economic growth with social equity and environmental protection, he added.

Vietnam is ready to work alongside BRICS with responsibility, goodwill and practical cooperation to help build a peaceful and prosperous future of sustainable and inclusive development for all countries and their people, Hung said.

Tran Thuong