BRICS summit to focus on strengthening ties, says PM

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for Brazil to attend the 11th BRICS summit from November 13 to 14. Modi has also lined up bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinoping and the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The BRICS summit will focus on strengthening ties among the world’s five major economies in key areas, such as digital economy, science and technology, and also build mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation, Modi said in his pre-departure statement.

“I look forward to exchanging views with other BRICS leaders to further strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation, particularly on the summit theme — Economic growth for an innovative future,’’ the statement reads.

“Our business and industry play an important role in intra-BRICS ties. I will be addressing the BRICS Business Forum and interacting with BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank,’’ he added.

This will be the PM’s sixth summit beginning with the first one in 2014 that was also held in Brazil.

The business end of the BRICS summit is held on the second day when the five leaders – Modi, Putin, Xi, Bolsonaro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — will first meet in a restricted format during which they will exchange views on global issues as well as dwell on the report by the high-level mechanism on security issues that has had participation from all the five National Security Advisors, said Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin at a special briefing for the media.

The joint declaration to be issued at the end of the summit is unlikely to have a reference to Kashmir. The effort at the summit is to come out with formulations on which no country has any objection. As India is sensitive to Kashmir, just like China is to Xinjiang and Russia to Ukraine, none of the three domestic preoccupations will make it to the joint declaration, said the Russian diplomat.

The five leaders will then move into an expanded format that will be largely dominated by the economic agenda. One of the issues the leaders will be keen on pushing is a BRICS bonds fund that will build on initiatives by the BRICS’ New Development Bank which has made over 40 investments worth about $11 billion, said Babushkin. The leaders may also sign a BRICS memorandum of understanding between trade and investment promotion agencies.

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