China's Xi Jinping to chair 14th BRICS summit on June 23 via video link

China will host the 14th summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) nations on June 23 through a video conference link, said the country’s Foreign Ministry on Friday. Since China is this year’s chair of BRICS, the meeting will be led by Chinese President Xi Jinping, confirmed Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. With the theme ‘Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development', the summit would take place via video link. 

The leaders of the major economies of the world constituting BRICS would be attending the meeting. These leaders include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa. 

BRICS leaders’ summit on June 23 came in the backdrop of top security officials of BRICS nations meeting for an in-depth discussion and reaching a consensus on issues such as strengthening multilateralism and global governance. They also discussed the response to new threats and challenges to national security.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday attended the 12th meeting of BRICS National Security Advisers and High Representatives on National Security. During the meeting, Doval called for bolstering cooperation against terrorism without any reservations. The meeting also discussed enhancing governance in new frontiers, according to a Xinhua report. At the time, all the officials expressed readiness to work for fruitful outcomes of the 14th BRICS summit.

BRICS NSAs reviewed work on counter-terrorism

The BRICS NSAs meeting even reviewed the work of the working group on counter-terrorism and cyber security while agreeing to jointly promote plans and roadmaps for global counter-terrorism and cyber security cooperation. Officials from five nations called for a more inclusive, representative and democratic global Internet governance system. Doval spoke about the need for continuing cooperation against the challenges of pandemics and climate change. The National Security Adviser called for giving importance to cooperation in the areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), outer space and maritime security. Doval also stressed on the importance of having "trusted and resilient supply chains".  

Image: AP