Join India's growth story, PM Narendra Modi tells BRICS nations

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, August 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India will be the growth engine of the world and called upon the approximately 40 leaders attending the BRICS summit in South Africa to join in India’s growth story.

“India will soon become $5 trillion economy and its reforms have helped in the ease of doing business,” the Prime Minister said while speaking at the concluding ceremony of the BRICS Business Council. PM Modi hoped the summit would provide a useful opportunity to identify future areas of cooperation and review institutional development. It will also weigh the expanding of membership.

PM Modi said he was looking forward to the deliberations and meetings with world leaders even as he was accorded a warm welcome by the Indian diaspora upon his arrival in South Africa. The PM will hold several bilaterals but of great interest will be his interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The PM also said the summit would be a platform to discuss issues of concern for the global south and other areas of development.

The summit officially began on Tuesday with a business forum, which was addressed by PM Modi and other leaders. They then repaired for a retreat at the luxury Summer Place Estate in Johannesburg. “An expanded BRICS will represent a diverse group of nations with different political systems that share a common desire to have a more balanced global order,” said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

PM Modi was received by South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile at Waterkloof Air Force base, where he given a ceremonial guard of honour. Other BRICS leaders, including Xi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Brazilian President Lula, also arrived in Johannesburg.

Lavrov is leading the Russian delegation in the absence of Vladimir Putin who joined the summit virtually and was cheered while addressing the BRICS business forum. Besides Putin, the other no-shows were Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emanuel Macron, both of whom had wanted to attend the summit. A last-minute addition was UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will join the summit on Wednesday. This is the first in-person summit of BRICS comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa since 2019.