BRICS 2021: India's 6th Foreign Policy Planning Dialogue discusses 'quotidian diplomacy'

India on Friday, 10 December, chaired the sixth Foreign Policy Planning Dialogue under the BRICS 2021 in a virtual format. According to the Ministry of External Affairs' statement, the Director, Policy Planning Division, MEA presided over the dialogue. The participants during the dialogue held discussions over the global landscape, multilateral system and 'quotidian diplomacy'. 

The sixth Foreign Policy Planning Dialogue was attended by the heads of Foreign Policy Planning Units of BRICS countries. During the dialogue, the participants discussed key issues that have changed the global landscape. They also exchanged views on the effect of global landscape, the MEA said in the statement. The participants in the sixth BRICS Foreign Policy Planning Dialogue exchanged views on reform of multilateral system. 

Sixth Foreign Policy Planning Dialogue

Apart from issues of 'quotidian diplomacy', the heads of Foreign Policy Planning Units of BRICS countries also discussed other key topics. During the dialogue, the BRICS members also shared the practices that they have implemented in their respective Foreign Policy Planning Units. It is to mention here that the BRICS group comprises five countries that include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. 

13th BRICS summit 

On 9 September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the 13th BRICS summit themed “BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus.” In the virtual summit, leaders from the member countries had a discussion over several issues including the COVID-19 pandemic, developments in Afghanistan, terrorism, according to the Ministry of External Affairs' statement. The summit was attended by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. 

Addressing the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the BRICS partners for their cooperation that resulted in the achievement of several new initiatives, including the first BRICS Digital Health Summit, the first BRICS Ministerial Joint Statement on multilateral reforms and a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan. He emphasised the need for accelerating 'build-back' by increasing speed and accessibility of vaccination,

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