NEW DELHI: India gathered support among BRICS members to arrive at a consensus for the expansion of the grouping.
“During the BRICS Leaders’ Retreat on Tuesday, India took the lead in forging a consensus on membership criteria and selection of new members. Our efforts were guided by our objective to incorporate our strategic partners as new members,” said a source familiar with the matter.
Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE are strategic partners of most member states and are likely to be included in the BRICS fold, it is learnt.
“India fully supports the expansion of BRICS membership. And welcomes moving forward with consensus in this,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Meanwhile, before the summit, South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile had said that one of the core issues of discussions would be to reduce dependence on dollar.
“There was extensive talk on encouraging trade in national currencies. A lot of trade amongst BRICS members is being done in national currencies and this would be encouraged further,” said a source.
Meanwhile, Modi began his speech by speaking of the historic connect between India and South Africa, bringing the context of Tolstoy Farm, which was built by Mahatma Gandhi 110 years ago.
“Had a fruitful meeting with PM Modi. We congratulated India on the success of Chandrayan 3 and wished India for the upcoming G20 Summit,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Amongst the suggestions for broadening cooperation, Modi suggested creating a BRICS Space Exploration Consortium. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his video address, said the war in Ukraine was unleashed by the West and its satellites.
“The desire of a number of Western countries to maintain their hegemony in the world led to a severe crisis in Ukraine. The actions of Russia in Ukraine are dictated by the desire to stop the war of extermination unleashed by the West,” said Putin.