Economic, security interests to top Modi’s agenda at Brics

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will depart on Tuesday for the 15th Brics summit in Johannesburg that will kick off the same day with a meeting of the grouping’s business forum and a leaders’ retreat later in the day.

Apart from participating in discussions on issues related to economic cooperation, food security and Brics expansion, PM Modi is also expected to underscore at the summit the need for member-states to respect each other’s security interests and to speak in one voice against terrorism.

Leaders of more than 50 countries are expected to join South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, China’s Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Lula da Silva and Modi for what will be the first in-person Brics summit since 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the leaders remotely.

PM Modi will address the business forum on Tuesday, where he is expected to underline the significance of Brics at a time the world is still grappling with the consequences of the pandemic, the Ukraine war and highlight some of the achievements of his government, including digital transformation and ease of doing business.

The leaders’ retreat on the first day of the summit will see Modi coming face to face with Xi for the first time since they had a quick conversation on the margins of the G20 summit in Bali last year. While neither side has proposed an official bilateral dialogue yet, both sides haven’t ruled out a meeting as the two leaders will remain together in Johannesburg for almost 48 hours.

The plenary session on Wednesday is expected to see discussions on geopolitical issues, including the Ukraine crisis, with host South Africa, which has maintained a “neutral” position on the conflict, leading an African initiative to end the crisis.

PM Modi is likely to reiterate the need to end the war immediately and allow dialogue and diplomacy to take over. With Xi present, he may also look to raise the issue of terrorism like at the virtual summit last year that was chaired by the Chinese president and where he called upon member-states to provide mutual support in designation of terrorists and to not politicise the issue.

With 22 countries queuing up for Brics membership, the talks will also focus on expansion of the bloc. Fearing excessive Chinese influence, and wary of alienating the West, both India and Brazil have treaded cautiously on the issue. India, which enjoys close ties with many of the countries seeking membership, has strongly denied that it’s blocking the proposed expansion and has said it only wants the criteria for membership to be finalised first. (TOI)