BRICS Justice Ministers to Meet in Gandhinagar to Advance ADR Cooperation
The meeting will provide a ministerial platform to adopt a joint declaration on “Strengthening Alternative Dispute Resolution through Capacity Building in Mediation and Arbitration.”
India will chair the BRICS Justice Ministers’ Meeting this year, positioning ADR reforms as a major pillar of legal-system modernisation and accessible justice delivery.
New Delhi: The Department of Legal Affairs under the Union Ministry of Law and Justice will host the BRICS Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on May 19-20, followed by the BRICS Justice Ministers’ Meeting (JMM) on May 21-22 in Gandhinagar, as part of India’s BRICS Chairship for 2026.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, particularly mediation and arbitration, through institutional cooperation, policy reforms and capacity building initiatives among BRICS member nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
India will chair the BRICS Justice Ministers’ Meeting this year, positioning ADR reforms as a major pillar of legal-system modernisation and accessible justice delivery.
The Senior Officials’ Meeting will bring together senior representatives from BRICS nations to deliberate on institutional mediation frameworks, arbitration reforms and the growing role of ADR in resolving commercial as well as public-sector disputes. Officials are also expected to examine successful ADR-centric interventions that have helped reduce judicial backlogs and improve timely, cost-effective dispute resolution.
The Justice Ministers’ Meeting will provide a ministerial platform to adopt a joint declaration on “Strengthening Alternative Dispute Resolution through Capacity Building in Mediation and Arbitration.” The declaration is expected to outline commitments for sharing best practices, strengthening institutional capacity and exploring collaborative initiatives such as training programmes, model rules and digital dispute-resolution platforms.
According to the ministry, the discussions will focus on expanding professional exchanges and training programmes for mediators, arbitrators, judges, government legal officers and legal professionals across BRICS nations. The agenda also includes enhancing court-referred and pre-litigation mediation systems, fostering institutional cooperation among arbitration centres and mediation bodies, and leveraging digital technologies to improve accessibility and efficiency in dispute resolution.
The meetings are also expected to encourage cooperation on cross-border commercial disputes and promote comparative legal research among BRICS countries to support harmonisation of laws related to trade and environmental governance.
The choice of Gandhinagar as the venue reflects the city’s growing prominence as a hub for international legal and multilateral engagements under India’s BRICS Chairship.
The four-day engagement will include plenary sessions and bilateral exchanges aimed at developing concrete cooperation initiatives, institutional linkages and long-term capacity-building projects in the ADR ecosystem.
