India will host the second meeting of the BRICS Cultural Working Group in Varanasi on June 4-5, with five thematic panel discussions planned across the group’s three priority areas for 2026, the Ministry of Culture announced on Monday.
Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Vivek Agarwal, addressed the media emphasizing the complete timeline of the cultural track under India’s BRICS presidency for 2026, under the theme ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’.
The Varanasi meeting – chosen for its importance as one of the oldest living cities in the world that reflects its cultural depth and living heritage – will hold five thematic panel discussions: Creative Economy and People-to-People Collaboration; Copyright and Ethical AI in the Creative Economy; Protection of cultural heritage and return of cultural property; Collaborative approaches to protecting common heritage; Culture as a driver of sustainable development. The deliberations will contribute to reaching a final document. On the sidelines, the delegates will attend a cultural program on June 4, a Ganga and Ganga Aarti cruise on June 5, and a Sarnath trek to a Buddhist heritage site on June 6.
After Varanasi, the cultural track will continue with a third working group meeting in Bhopal from August 5 to 6, the BRICS Culture Festival in Bhopal from August 6 to 7, the BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting in Bhopal from August 7 to 8, and the BRICS Theater Festival in New Delhi from October 12 to 14. In total, India is holding four formal meetings of the BRICS cultural track this year – three meetings of working groups and one meeting of culture ministers.
The first meeting of the working group was held virtually from April 29-30, with the participation of all 11 BRICS member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Indonesia – where India put forward and discussed three priority areas for 2026 – Creative Economy, Cultural Industries and Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence; Protection of cultural heritage and return of cultural property; Culture, climate and sustainable development.
Earlier, India hosted BRICS Culture Ministers’ meetings in Goa in 2016 and New Delhi in 2021. BRICS cooperation currently spans more than 30 tracks and working mechanisms, with 21 ministerial tracks driving cooperation across sectors including foreign affairs, finance, trade, health, science and technology, culture, tourism, youth and sports, energy, environment and sustainable development.
BRICS currently includes 11 full member countries and 10 partner countries. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined as full members in January 2024. Indonesia joined in January 2025. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam joined as partner countries in 2025.
