The BRICS Pivot: Can Pakistan Turn Diplomacy into Economic Gain?

Amidst rapidly evolving global geopolitics in 2026, Pakistan faces a pivotal moment to secure BRICS membership as a strategic economic necessity to avoid the high costs of exclusion from an increasingly influential bloc.

Shifting Geopolitics and Pakistan’s Diplomatic Resurgence

With India leading BRICS, Pakistan’s bid to join the bloc is no longer a quiet aspiration but has turned into a high-stakes economic ambition. Due to the rise of a multipolar world order and the decline of US hegemony, joining BRICS has become a necessity not only for Pakistan but for all third-world states. India will host the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi in September 2026. The organization has already expanded into a broader BRICS framework. With new members like the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Iran, the bloc now represents around 55.61 percent of the global population. It also comprises 43.93 percent of the global economy and 43.6 percent of global oil production.

BRICS Expansion and Pakistan’s Strategic Calculus

For countries like Pakistan, remaining excluded from this evolving circle not only risks diplomatic isolation but also limits a country’s access to a growing internal market in this bloc, which is rapidly moving towards de-dollarization by........

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