Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari delivered the opening address at the 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting held in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on Saturday, 11 July 2026, as India exercises its BRICS 2026 Chairship. The ministerial conclave brings together transport officials from across the BRICS grouping to advance cooperation on connectivity, logistics, and sustainable infrastructure.

Context

Nagpur — a city that sits at the geographic heart of India and serves as a major logistics and road-connectivity hub — was chosen as the venue for the meeting, underlining the city's growing stature in multilateral infrastructure diplomacy. Gadkari, whose ministry oversees one of the world's largest highway expansion programmes, is a natural choice to lead India's engagement at a transport-focused ministerial. As host minister, he set the tone for the day's deliberations with his opening remarks.

India's BRICS presidency for 2026 places New Delhi at the centre of the grouping's sectoral agenda, with ministerial meetings spread across policy domains. The transport ministers' meeting is among the most consequential of these, given the grouping's shared interest in cross-border corridors and multimodal freight networks.

Policy Backdrop

The BRICS grouping — originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — was significantly enlarged at the 2024 Kazan Summit, which admitted Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE as new members. This expansion has broadened the transport-cooperation agenda considerably, bringing in economies with major port, rail, and road assets that are central to emerging Global-South supply chains.

India previously held the BRICS chair in 2021, during which it hosted a range of sectoral ministerial meetings. Successive BRICS transport ministerials have focused on technology sharing, harmonisation of standards, and financing mechanisms for cross-border infrastructure corridors. The 2026 meeting builds on that institutional foundation while reflecting the realities of an enlarged grouping.

Gadkari's ministry has, in parallel, been driving domestic ambitions — including the Bharatmala Pariyojana highway programme and multimodal logistics parks — that align closely with the connectivity themes on the BRICS transport agenda. India's domestic infrastructure push gives its multilateral positions added credibility among partner nations.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary stakeholders at the meeting are the transport ministries of all BRICS member states, including the five new members admitted in 2024. Logistics companies, port operators, and infrastructure financing institutions from across the grouping are the indirect beneficiaries of any agreements or working-group mandates that emerge from the ministerial.

For India, the meeting is an opportunity to project its infrastructure-building expertise and to shape BRICS norms on sustainable transport — an area where Indian policy has evolved rapidly with the adoption of green highway standards and electric-mobility targets. Nagpur itself, as a road and rail junction, symbolises the kind of multimodal connectivity the meeting is designed to promote.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the final joint statement expected at the close of the ministerial, which could include new working-group mandates or declarations on technology sharing and corridor financing. Any outcomes from the 3rd BRICS Transport Ministers' Meeting are likely to feed into the broader agenda of the 2026 BRICS Summit, the flagship event of India's chairship year. Gadkari's opening address sets the political register for those negotiations, and follow-up announcements from the ministry are expected in the days ahead.