Union Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh on Thursday, 25 June 2026 personally greeted the heads of space agencies from nine BRICS nations at a meeting hosted in Bengaluru, citing the city's standing as the seat of ISRO headquarters as the ideal venue for the gathering under India's chairship of BRICS 2026.

Context

The BRICS 2026 'Heads of Space Agencies' (HOSA) meeting brought together senior representatives from the space programmes of Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Jitendra Singh described it as 'a pleasant experience, individually greeting and felicitating each of the visiting Heads of Space Agencies.' The gathering reflects India's active use of its BRICS chairship to advance multilateral space diplomacy.

Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka and India's foremost technology hub, is home to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters, making it a symbolically and logistically fitting host for the meeting. Holding the event at an ISRO site underscores India's established infrastructure for space-sector diplomacy.

Policy Backdrop

BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, underwent a significant expansion in 2024, adding Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE and Indonesia as full members. This widened the geographic and programmatic scope of potential space cooperation among emerging economies. India has consistently used its BRICS chairmanships to position science and technology — particularly space — as a pillar of South-South multilateral engagement.

ISRO has in recent years deepened bilateral space ties with several BRICS members, including joint satellite projects, data-sharing arrangements and astronaut training discussions. The HOSA format provides a structured platform for these bilateral threads to be woven into a collective agenda.

Stakeholders and Impact

The meeting directly involves the space agencies of all nine attending BRICS nations, covering a combined population of several billion people and a substantial share of global space-launch capacity. For India, hosting the HOSA meeting reinforces ISRO's role not merely as a national agency but as a convening institution for the broader Global South.

India's private space sector, which has grown rapidly since the liberalisation of the space economy, also stands to benefit from the diplomatic visibility that such multilateral engagements generate. Agreements or working groups emerging from the HOSA meeting could open pathways for commercial and scientific collaboration between member-state agencies and their private-sector partners.

What's Next

The BRICS 2026 HOSA meeting is expected to feed into the broader agenda of the 2026 BRICS Summit, with possible joint project announcements or the formation of technical working groups in areas such as Earth observation, satellite navigation and space situational awareness. As chair, India will shape the outcomes document and any cooperative framework that emerges. The ministerial-level attention signalled by Dr. Jitendra Singh's personal participation suggests that space cooperation will be a visible deliverable of India's BRICS presidency this year.