A number of the world’s most powerful leaders gathered in New Delhi around a massive circular table.

Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, said the leaders sitting beside him should be “rule-makers” more than ever, not “rule-takers.”

Among those present were members of the BRICS group; including Xi Jinping, president of China, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, Masoud Pezeshkian, president of Iran, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa.

These countries are not natural allies of one another. They have a history of border disputes and even military confrontations.