Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will depart for Johannesburg on Tuesday to participate in the 15th BRICS Summit that will be held from August 22-24.
Giving details about the PM’s trip, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said the theme of this year’s summit is: “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism”.
This will be the first in-person BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
China’s President Xi Jinping will also be attending the summit in person.
It remains to be seen whether Russian President Vladimir Putin makes the trip as the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which South Africa is a member, has put out an arrest warrant for the Kremlin leader over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Putin is likely to appear on a video link and the Russian delegation will be led by his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
Expansion of BRICS and use of national currency for trading and economic activity among member countries are among the key agendas of discussion.
“As far as the agenda is concerned, there are many issues that are being discussed and also reported mostly the next expansion item on the agenda. And second, is the use of national currency for trading and economic activity amongst the BRICS countries,” India’s BRICS Sherpa Dammu Ravi told ANI.
“Development dimension and issues crucial and critical for the Global South will also be part of the discussion. PM Modi’s has always emphasised that solutions and challenges for the Global South have to be collectively worked on together,” Ravi said.
