NEW DELHI: As the 18th BRICS Summit concluded in New Delhi on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the gathering to deepen India’s bilateral engagement with key partners across the Global South, holding meetings with leaders from South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria and Kazakhstan alongside the summit’s multilateral negotiations.
The meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa focused on the two countries’ “special and strategic relationship”, with both sides reviewing cooperation across economic and other sectors and coordinating positions on global issues. The two leaders also discussed South Africa’s possible participation in the International Big Cat Alliance, following successful transfer of cheetahs from South Africa to India.
Ramaphosa, speaking after the summit, credited India with providing the leadership needed to secure consensus on the New Delhi Declaration despite expectations that BRICS members might fail to agree. “We were able to adopt a declaration when many thought that we would not succeed,” he said, adding that India deserved particular credit for hosting and coordinating the summit.
He said the bilateral relationship had deepened since Nelson Mandela’s visit to India in 1997 and described it as a “special and strategic relationship”.
With Indonesia, Modi met President Prabowo Subianto and reaffirmed the commitment to expand cooperation across a broad range of sectors. “His warmth, positivity and spirit of optimism are always endearing,” Modi said.
Modi also met Nigerian Vice-President Kashim Shettima, with discussions on trade, power, clean energy, fertilisers and defence, besides health, capacity building and technology. The engagement underlined India’s effort to translate its expanding BRICS and Global South outreach into sector-specific partnerships. Shettima Mustafa appreciated India’s development experience and its contribution to capacity building and economic development in Nigeria.
In another bilateral, Modi held talks with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during his first visit to India as president of the key Central Asian country. The two sides discussed giving “fresh momentum” to the India-Kazakhstan Strategic Partnership, with trade, investment, energy, technology, connectivity and innovation identified as areas of potential growth.
The bilateral engagements gave another dimension to India’s BRICS presidency where the Global South was again on focus by extending it beyond summit declarations.
