NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will not just be meeting leaders from the five-member bloc of emerging powers, including Chinese President Xi Jingping but also Latin American leaders during BRICS Summit in Brazil next week. Incidentally,it will not only be Modi’s first multilateral summit, but also his first meeting with major world leaders from outside South Asia.
Modi will be attending the two-day summit in Fortaleza and Brasilia on July 15-16, which will also be attended by Russian President Vladmir Putin, South African President Jacob Zuma and host Brazil’s President Dilma Rouseff. Also, leaders of 11 Latin American countries,including Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Surinam have been invited to the summit. “The PM, I think both Secretary (ER) and I can confirm, has shown great interest in having a dialogue, meeting South American leaders,” MEA’s Secretary (West) Dinkar Khullar told reporters.
On whether Modi will meet Xi on the sidelines of the summit, MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said it is normal for the Prime Minister to meet fellow leaders from the participating nations. “We are working on the schedule. You can rest assured that there will be bilateral meetings with other BRICS leaders in Brazil,” he said.
Briefing reporters on the sixth edition of the summit, Sujata Mehta, Secretary (Economic Relations)said, “BRICS is a tremendously important group in terms of its potential.”
Mehta said that from India’s perspective pursuing reforms of the UN Security Council, discussing UN post-2015 agenda, BRICS Development Bank and export credit guarantees will be the main priorities. The BRICS bank, whose formation was decided at the last summit in Durban, aims to provide export credit guarantee for member nations and some developing nations.