BRICS Summit 2023: PM Modi to embark on 3-day visit to South Africa I What are India's key expectations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to attend the much-anticipated BRICS Summit which will be held in South Africa's national capital Johannesburg from August 22-24, where he will float ideas to bolster trade relations with his counterparts and will endorse the use of local currencies. 

This will be the first in-person BRICS Summit since 2019. The Summit will provide an opportunity to review the progress of the initiatives launched by the grouping and identify future areas of activity. According to the statement released by the Prime Minister's office, he will also participate in a special event "BRICS – Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue” being organized after the BRICS Summit, which will include other countries invited by South Africa.

During his visit, the Prime Minister will hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg. Notably, the crucial meeting will be held nearly two weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit New Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, neither of the sides confirmed whether the leaders of India and China will hold bilateral meetings in Johannesburg.

What is BRICS? 

The BRICS is a group of countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and the word was coined by Jim O’Neill, an economist working with American company Goldman Sachs, to highlight the strong growth potential of these countries and how they could dominate the global economy by 2050.

Russia, India and China (RIC) started holding a dialogue in the early 2000s, expressing their interest in a shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world with a more sympathetic global governance system. The acronym RIC changed to BRIC with the induction of Brazil in 2009 and to BRICS in 2010 with the inclusion of South Africa.

As the BRICS Summit gathers on South African soil, a defining moment arises. It beckons the member nations to seize this juncture and mould an unprecedented global economic governance system—one that is all-encompassing, efficient, and inclusive.

BRICS agenda

During the meeting, it is expected that the world leaders will emphasise limiting the dominance of the United States in both shaping the economy and the world order. As of now, America monopolises the world order, where it retains itself in the top position and then Europe-- overlooking China's position.

However, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic, world leaders including the Chinese President have been actively advocating for their counterparts to end the hegemony of the West and the dominance of dollar in the international trade.

"As a consortium of the world's five fastest emerging economies, the BRICS exudes profound economic optimism. It was touted to present an alternative global order that would act as a formidable response to the Washington consensus-driven Bretton Woods Institutions. The heft of the group springs from the fact that it comprises 3.2 billion people collectively, that is, 42 per cent of the total world population, "according to the statement released by the BRICS.     

It noted that BRICS economies represent 27 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and over 18 per cent of global trade. These countries also register 50 per cent of the total global economic growth, making them the most significant countries propelling global growth.

India's Expectations  

Meanwhile, while speaking to the news agency ANI about India's expectations, BRICS Sherpa Dammu Ravi said that several issues including the next expansion of BRICS on the agenda and the use of national currency for trading and economic activity amongst the BRICS member countries.

"Earlier there was no belief that Brics would be extended. As the world is changing in the 21st century, all the developing countries together decided for the expansion of BRICS keeping in mind their agenda items and economic development," said the IFS officer. "But, for this, guidelines, as well as criteria, are needed." As per Ravi, India has been "constructive" in this work and we have taken the first initiative at the Sherpa level. 

BRICS currency will be endorsed: India 

"Currently, we cannot say which country can be part of the expansion. It will be decided after a thorough discussion by all the leaders and the country that has to be brought into BRICS. Before the expansion, it would be kept in mind that the country can cooperate in the development and the expansion of BRICS." As far as the inclusion of national currency in trading is concerned, the officer said, it is not new and it has already happened.

"There is an opportunity for trading in your national currency. All the BRICS countries together will take this decision and discuss that they can trade in their national currency in these BRICS countries."

Leader of Global South

From India's point of view, Ravi said, "Development dimension and issues that are so crucial and critical for the Global South, will be part of the discussion in the BRICS Summit, scheduled on August 22-24.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary leadership has always been emphasising that the solutions and the challenges for the global south have to be collectively worked together." He further said this is the first time since the pandemic that leaders are meeting in person. "So, in that sense, this assumes enormous importance and significance so that all the leaders are meeting in person."

Noting that it's the third time when Prime Minister Modi is visiting South Africa and that this visit also marks the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between India and South Africa, the officer said there are lots of ideas Prime Minister Modi's are being discussed in the BRICS meetings."

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