BRICS–2026: Access corridors to the sea, digital payments, and sovereign finance

At the plenary session of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and summit participants presented a strategic roadmap containing 50 concrete practical outcomes for the bloc and its partner countries.

During the final discussions of the summit, several crucial areas directly concerning the interests of Uzbekistan and our region were clearly defined:

Access to the sea and transport corridors: The logistics problems of landlocked countries without direct access to the sea were specifically raised within the framework of the summit. Sudhakar Dalela, Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs of India, stated that the BRICS platform fully supports multilateral cooperation regarding southern corridors and connectivity to sea ports. This internationally reinforces the aspirations of Central Asia, in particular Uzbekistan, to access India and global markets via the Chabahar port and the North–South corridor.

Digital payments and innovation fund: In his speech, Narendra Modi proposed integrating India's population-scale UPI (Unified Payments Interface) experience into the infrastructure of partner countries. Additionally, the "BRICS Startup Innovation Fund" was established to support small and medium-sized businesses and startups.

Sovereign finance and food security: Summit participants noted that the only way to protect international trade from political pressure and unilateral financial restrictions is to establish direct settlements in national currencies and independent logistics chains.

These initiatives put forward at the summit will further accelerate pragmatic cooperation in reducing trade barriers, expanding alternative transport corridors, and digital finance in the coming years.