Coronavirus: BRICS Foreign Ministers to meet on April 28

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 25

While the G-20 is at a standstill due to a reported US-China dispute on the World Health Organisation, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will participate in a conference of BRICS Foreign Ministers to mount joint efforts to combat the Covid.

All five countries are at different stages of the epidemic curve and besides the ongoing cooperation on this front, BRICS is also providing financial assistance. India has already availed $ 1 billion from the BRICS-founded New Development Bank (NDB) and has sought another tranche of $ 1 billion. Headed by former ICICI Bank chief, KV Kamath, NDB is scheduled to open its regional offices in India and Russia this year.

With two test runs, the BRICS $ 100 billion Contingency Reserve Arrangement, meant to alleviate short term balance of payment pressures, is an additional bulwark in addition to the IMF, against the sudden draining out of foreign exchange reserves.

The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ video conference was being deliberated for some time and was clinched after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his counterparts including Jaishankar during which the possibility of a trilateral Russia-India-China cooperation was also discussed.

Lavrov and Jaishankar also exchanged views on the prospects of an Afghan settlement where the common aim of both sides is to prevent the country from again becoming a hotspot for jehadi organisations.  Kashmiri terrorists targeting India as well as Central Asian and Chechen extremists targeting Russia’s underbelly were given arms training with impunity in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule.

With Russia taking over the Chairmanship of BRICS from Brazil, the Foreign Ministers are also slated to touch on their joint activities during the year. Typically, various BRICS Forums hold 100 meetings from subjects ranging from counter terrorism to polar science.

But the promotion of R&D in medicines and diagnostic tools to end epidemics as well as ensuring quality and affordable essential medicines has occupied a brief footnote in their extensive summit-end Joint Statements. However, with the epidemic breaking out, India has sent medicines to over 100 countries including Brazil, South Africa and Russia while China has promised to dispatch 35 plane loads of ventilators, testing kits and PPEs to India.