BRICS nations expected to denounce Pahalgam attack

The BRICS summit in Brazil on July 6-7 is expected to denounce the Pahalgam terror attack and discuss alternate payment mechanism for trade but eschew the path of ‘de-dollarisation’ (doing away with the US dollar as a trading currency).

PM Narendra Modi is travelling to Brazil as part of his five-nation tour from July 2 to 9. He will also be visiting Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina and Namibia.

The BRICS leaders’ declaration to be unveiled at the grouping’s annual summit is set to forcefully denounce the Pahalgam attack and call for a firm approach to unitedly confront terrorism in line with India’s expectation. Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said that Modi’s participation in the summit would be an expression of India’s solidarity with the bloc and would be a great opportunity for him to connect with the leaders of the Global South.

Ravi said the issue of terrorism had been very well captured in the BRICS declaration. “All the member nations are very sensitive to this matter, and there is a broader understanding in how to deal with this menace. When you get the declaration out, you will see the language is much to our satisfaction there,” he added.

When asked a question on BRICS wanting to use local currency for trade, Ravi said, “It’s not a de-dollarization issue, but countries in the Global South are looking for alternatives. The way India is doing trade settlement in rupees. Many BRICS countries are also adopting a similar path,” he said. However, he rejected the idea that national currencies were negating dollar utilisation in the world.

“I don’t think that we have to get into the debate of dollar versus national currency. Dollar will continue to exist in the global trade. It’s the most dominant currency. I don’t think there’s a competition there. But trading in national currencies will find more and more traction in the days to come,” Ravi said.

US President Donald Trump had slammed BRICS for attempting to do away with the US dollar for trade.

BRICS brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.

Asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin deciding to skip the summit, Ravi said it would be a key forum for India to continue to push for the interests of the Global South.