India to Host Second BRICS Culture Working Group Meeting in Varanasi on June 4-5, 2026

Three Priority Areas: Creative Economy & AI, Heritage Protection, Culture & Sustainable Development

Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, today announced that the 2nd BRICS Culture Working Group (CWG) Meeting will be held in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on 4th – 5th June 2026. The announcement was made at a press conference held in New Delhi, which was also attended by Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA; Smt. Amita Prasad Sarabhai, Additional Secretary; Dr. Arvind Kumar, Joint Secretary; and other senior officers of the Ministry. The two-day meeting, scheduled for 4-5 June 2026, will facilitate structured multilateral dialogue on cultural cooperation in keeping with India’s BRICS 2026 theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”

Priority Areas for Discussion

The 2026 BRICS Culture Working Group deliberations are structured around three major thematic priorities:

1.  Creative Economy, Cultural and Creative Industries, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

2.  Cultural Heritage Protection and Return of Cultural Property

3.  Culture, Climate and Sustainable Development

These priorities reflect a commitment to innovation, ensuring the ethical use of technology in cultural domains, preserving cultural diversity, advancing heritage conservation and restitution cooperation, and engaging with the global post-2030 sustainable development agenda.

India’s Role in BRICS Cultural Cooperation

India has consistently played an active role in advancing cultural cooperation within BRICS. The Ministry of Culture hosted BRICS Meetings of Ministers of Culture under India’s presidencies in Goa in 2016 and New Delhi in 2021, and continues to provide strategic leadership during its 2026 Chairship.

The BRICS Culture Working Group, which draws its mandate from the Agreement between the Governments of the BRICS Member States on Cooperation in the Field of Culture signed in 2015, has over the years expanded cooperation across cultural heritage, creative industries, films, museums, archives, and digital cultural ecosystems.

BRICS Culture Track 2026 – Schedule of Meetings

About BRICS

BRICS brings together Brasil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia as full members, with 10 Partner Countries joining in 2025. The grouping represents a platform for multilateral cooperation across political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people pillars, collectively advancing a more inclusive and equitable international order.

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