Diplomats from the BRICS group of developing nations have agreed on a joint declaration of their leaders at a summit in Rio de Janeiro this week, three people familiar with the talks said on Saturday.

In the absence of Putin and Xi, the summit was dominated by Brazil’s Lula and India’s Modi, the leaders of the two largest BRICS democracies – and the least interested in turning the grouping into an anti-Western alliance. Antagonizing the United States was not on the agenda.