Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday, 1 June 2026 addressed the pre-event press conference for the BRICS Urbanisation Forum, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 11-12 June under India's Chairship of the grouping.

Context

Khattar outlined the dual-theme framework guiding the forum. India's broader chairship theme — 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability' — sets the overarching agenda for all sectoral meetings held under its presidency this year. The forum itself carries the specific theme: 'Cities for People: BRICS Cooperation for Inclusive and Resilient Urban Futures.'

Speaking at the press conference, the minister said the forum's theme 'reflects our shared commitment to creating people-centric cities that are inclusive, resilient, and built to enhance quality of life.' The two-day event will bring together urban policy stakeholders from across BRICS member nations.

Policy Backdrop

BRICS — the intergovernmental grouping originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has progressively expanded its cooperation beyond macroeconomic coordination into sectoral domains including urban development, climate resilience, and sustainable infrastructure. The Urbanisation Forum is a thematic meeting that feeds into the broader leaders' summit process, a format BRICS has used consistently to build consensus on shared development priorities.

India's chairship continues a pattern of leveraging the BRICS platform to project Global South priorities on inclusive infrastructure and climate-adaptive urban planning. Rapid city growth across all original BRICS economies has made urban governance a pressing shared challenge, giving the forum practical urgency beyond diplomatic symbolism.

Stakeholders and Impact

The forum's outcomes are expected to be relevant to urban administrations across BRICS member countries and, more immediately, to the millions of residents living in the rapidly expanding cities of the Global South. People-centric urban planning — the forum's stated focus — encompasses affordable housing, resilient infrastructure, public transport, and climate adaptation measures.

For India specifically, the forum offers a platform to showcase domestic urban initiatives and align them with multilateral frameworks. Khattar, who holds the Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio alongside Power, is the natural ministerial face for this engagement. His ministry oversees flagship urban programmes that are directly relevant to the forum's agenda.

What's Next

All eyes will be on the 11-12 June forum in New Delhi for joint declarations, cooperation frameworks, or follow-up mechanisms that member nations agree upon during India's chairship. Any outcomes from the Urbanisation Forum are likely to be consolidated into the agenda of the larger BRICS leaders' summit later in the year. The degree of consensus achieved on inclusive and resilient urban futures will be a key indicator of the forum's substantive impact.