Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Praises India’s Leadership at the BRICS Summit

New Delhi – In a candid interview with IANS, Uruguay’s foreign minister Mario Lubetkin praised India’s handling of the recent BRICS summit, calling the final New Delhi Declaration a concrete, consensus‑based piece of work that tackled a host of thorny, highly sensitive issues.

“The summit turned out to be an incredible success,” Lubetkin said, chuckling slightly as he recalled the uncertainty that hovered over the preparatory talks. “There were many questions and very few answers, but in the end we managed to land a serious, consensus‑based declaration.”

He went on to note that, despite the presence of various protagonists in ongoing conflicts, India, as the chair, managed to bring divergent voices to the table and steer them toward agreement. “That shows India as one of the key leaders right now, especially in the Global South. We don’t just need words; we need to look at the results,” he added.

Lubetkin didn’t shy away from highlighting PM Modi’s personal role. He described watching the Indian premier engage with world leaders over the weekend as “dynamic” – even though he wasn’t in the bilateral meetings himself. “When the Prime Minister announced that consensus had been reached, it spoke louder than any press release,” he remarked, a hint of admiration in his tone.

The Uruguayan minister, who arrived in New Delhi last week, said his trip had a dual purpose: attending the summit and strengthening the bilateral bond between Uruguay and India, especially within the Mercosur framework. Over four days he met commerce minister Piyush Goyal and external affairs minister S Jaishankar, among others.

In a particularly vivid moment, Lubetkin recalled a meeting between PM Modi and President Yamandú Orsi of Uruguay at the 2025 BRICS summit in Rio. “Modi came with a sheet of paper outlining his vision for the next 10‑15 years of India‑Uruguay cooperation. It was a long‑term mission, and I was impressed,” he said.

Looking ahead, Lubetkin hopes the two countries can turn the high‑level understandings into concrete actions before President Orsi’s planned visit to India in October 2027. He and Jaishankar have already sketched a roadmap for the coming year, targeting economic, political and cultural collaboration.

Three “highways,” as he puts it, could carry the partnership forward: first, bilateral projects ranging from trade to Bollywood‑style cultural exchange; second, the next phase of Mercosur‑India negotiations, which will also benefit Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay; and third, leveraging Uruguay’s chairmanship of both Mercosur and CELAC to open broader regional channels.

Later this month, Lubetkin and Jaishankar will meet again in New York, with a possible side‑meeting of CELAC ministers to deepen ties between Latin America and India. “In Uruguay, this is a time for India,” he told European colleagues, underscoring how much the country’s global clout has grown in the past two decades.