'PM Modi to chair 13th BRICS virtually on September 9': Ministry of External Affairs

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit on Thursday in a virtual format. Giving out further details of the BRICS Summit, the MEA said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazil President Jair Bolsanaro, Chinese Presidnt Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will also be attending the meeting. The theme for the Summit is 'BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus', it added. 

PM Modi to chair BRICS Summit for 2nd time

Noting that this is going to be the second time that PM Modi will be chairing the BRICS Summit, the Prime Minister had earlier chaired the Goa Summit in 2016. The Indian Chairship of BRICS this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of BRICS, as reflected in the theme for the summit".

The Ministry of External Affairs further infomed that this meeting will also be attended by India's National Secuirty Adviser Ajit Doval, President of the New Development Bank Macros Troyjo, the pro tempore chairman of the BRICS Business Council, Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women's Business Allaince, Sangita Reddy. 

The MEA said, "They will present reports on the outcomes pursued this year under their respective tracks to the leaders during the summit">summit. India had outlined four priority areas for its Chairship. These are Reform of the Multilateral System, Counter-Terrorism, Using Digital and Technological Tools for achieving SDGs and Enhancing People to People exchanges. In addition to these areas, the leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues."

The last BRICS Summit was organised by Russia. The last Summit was held virtually due to the pandemic. The summit took place in November and it was the first time that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping were on the same platform after the Galwan valley episode.

Earlier, the 11th BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting saw new areas of co-operation gaining traction on Trade in Professional Services, Genetic Resources and Consumer Protection under e-commerce.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: ANI)