New Delhi: Amid ongoing tensions in West Asia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are expected to join fellow BRICS members at the bloc’s second Cultural Working Group meeting in Varanasi on June 4-5. The conference will discuss the theme “Building Resilience, Innovation, Collaboration and Sustainability” with Artificial Intelligence and the repatriation of cultural property among the priority areas for discussion and consensus building.The Varanasi meeting is being considered important to pave the way for the ministerial talks to be held in Bhopal in August, with the Culture Ministry hoping that the members will be able to reach a consensus and give a statement on the thematic areas. The upcoming Working Group meeting assumes significance in the current geopolitical context, as it is taking place in the backdrop of the West Asia crisis. The first BRICS Culture Working Group meeting was held in virtual mode on 29-30 April. After the second meeting of the grouping in Varanasi, the third meeting of the CWG will be held in Bhopal on August 5-6, followed by the BRICS Cultural Fest on August 6-7 and the BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting (CMM) on August 7 and 8, also in Bhopal, Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal highlighted at a press conference. He also shared the roadmap and priority areas. The deliberations of the 2026 BRICS Culture Working Group are structured around three key thematic priorities: ‘Creative economy, cultural and creative industries, copyright and artificial intelligence’, ‘Cultural heritage protection and return of cultural property’ and ‘Culture, climate and sustainable development’.“These priorities reflect a commitment to innovation, ensuring ethical use of technology in cultural sectors, preserving cultural diversity, advancing heritage conservation and restoration cooperation, and engaging with the post-2030 global sustainable development agenda,” the culture ministry said in a statement.India has consistently played an active role in advancing cultural cooperation within BRICS. The Ministry of Culture hosted the BRICS meetings of Culture Ministers under the Indian chairmanship in Goa in 2016 and New Delhi in 2021, and is again playing a leading role in this strategic role in 2026.The BRICS Culture Working Group, which derives its mandate from the Agreement between the Governments of BRICS member states on cooperation in the field of culture signed in 2015, has over the years expanded cooperation in cultural heritage, creative industries, films, museums, archives and digital cultural ecosystems.BRICS brings together Brazil, 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 Group represents a platform for multilateral cooperation across the political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people pillars, collectively advancing a more inclusive and equitable international order.