BRICS Summit 2024 LIVE UPDATES: PM Modi calls for financial integration of BRICS currency

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that it is time for the BRICS nations to create alternative payment methods between them, adding that the group's New Development Bank was designed as an alternative to what he called failing Bretton Woods institutions.

Lula took part in the BRICS summit via video conference, after a head injury over the weekend forced him to cancel his trip to Kazan, Russia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says "Special emphasis is being laid on infrastructure in all the BRICS countries. To rapidly increase multimodal connectivity in India, we have created the 'Gatishakti portal. This has helped in the integrated planning and implementation of these developments and has reduced logistics costs. We will be happy to share our experiences with all of you. We welcome efforts to increase financial integration among BRICS countries. Trading in local currency and easy cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI) created by India is a big success story of India. It has been adopted in many countries. Last year, we also launched it in UAE in collaboration with Sheikh Mohammed. Cooperation can be done in this with other foreign countries as well."

PM Modi at BRICS Summit

"BRICS represents 40% of the world's humanity and about 30% of the economy. BRICS has achieved many things in the last two decades. I am confident that in the coming times, this organisation will emerge as a more effective medium to face global challenges. I congratulate Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank. In the last 10 years, this bank has been emerging as an important option for the development of the countries of the Global South. The opening of GIFT City in India has strengthened the activities of this bank... NDB should continue to work on the demand-driven principle and while expanding the bank, priority should be given to ensuring long-term financial sustainability, healthy credit rating and market access," PM Modi said at the ongoing BRICS Summit in Kazan.

PM Modi at BRICS Summit

Kazan, Russia: At the 16th BRICS Summit, PM Narendra Modi said, "In its new form, BRICS is an economy bigger than 30 trillion dollars. BRICS Business Council and BRICS Women Business Alliance have played a special role in increasing our economic cooperation. The consensus reached within BRICS this year on WTO reforms, trade facilitation in agriculture, resilience supply chains, e-commerce and special economic zones will strengthen our economic cooperation. Among all these initiatives, we should also focus on the interests of small and medium-scale industries. I am happy that the BRICS Startup Forum proposed during India's chairmanship in 2021 will be launched this year. The Railway Research Network initiative given by India is also playing an important role in increasing logistics and supply chain connectivity between BRICS countries."

China's President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged BRICS countries to deepen financial and economic cooperation, saying the need for reform of the international financial architecture is becoming more urgent.
Xi, speaking at the BRICS summit in Russia's city of Kazan, called for a de-escalation in the Ukrainian crisis, and for no further expansion of the battlefield. He also called for a ceasefire in the conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday proposed the creation of BRICS grain exchange which could at a later stage be transformed to trade other commodities.
He told the leaders of BRICS countries at a summit in Russia that such an exchange would help protect trade between BRICS countries as well as other countries in the Global South from excessive price volatility.

At the Closed Plenary Session of the 16th BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his earlier stance on war and said, "India supports dialogue and diplomacy, not war" "Just as we together defeated a challenge like covid, in the same way, we are fully capable of creating new opportunities for a safe, strong and prosperous future for the future generation...Similarly, we should work for global regulations for cyber security, safe and secure AI," he said at the BRICS Summit.

Turkey's NATO membership is no obstacle to the country joining BRICS, if Ankara decides to do so, the TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the multilateral Summit, said "We should give a message to the world that BRICS is not a divisive but a public interest group". "India is ready to welcome new countries as BRICS Partner Country. All decisions in this regard should be made unanimously and the views of the founding members of BRICS should be respected. The guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures that we adopted at the Johannesburg Summit should be followed by all member and partner countries...We should move forward in a timely manner for reforms in global institutions like UN Security Council, Multilateral Development Banks, WTO. While taking forward the efforts of BRICS, we should keep in mind that the image of this organisation should not be such that we do not want to reform global institutions but want to replace them...," said PM Modi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is set to hold more than a dozen bilateral meetings on the sidelines, conferred with Xi, PM Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday ahead of the summit's opening.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hosted China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi and other world leaders at a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, part of the Kremlin's efforts to challenge Western global clout. Speaking at the start of Wednesday's BRICS meeting, Putin named the deepening of cooperation in the financial sector as part of its agenda. He said participants were also set to discuss a range of international issues including the settlement of regional conflicts, along with the expansion of the BRICS group of countries.

Russia said it has no intention of abandoning Iran if Israel attacks them. "We are developing cooperation with Iran in a variety of areas. We intend to do this further."

The world leaders pose for the family photograph of the BRICS Summit 2024 in Russia's Kazan city. "Stronger and united together for an inclusive and multipolar world. A historic moment for the BRICS as the leaders take the first photo of the expanded BRICS family at the XVI BRICS Summit," wrote the Ministry of External Affairs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the world leaders at the Plenary Session of the BRICS Summit at the Kazan Expo Centre in Russia.

Members of the Indian delegation, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arrive at the BRICS summit in Kazan

Members of the Indian delegation, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arrive at the BRICS summit in Kazan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive at the BRICS summit in Kazan

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit in Kazan

Russia: The Plenary Session of the BRICS Summit begins at the Kazan Expo Center. Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the world leaders. 

Russia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE's President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan are seen interacting after the family photo at Kazan Expo Center.

 More than 30 countries have expressed a desire to join BRICS, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of the group on Wednesday. Putin said the group would discuss its expansion at the meeting, while keeping in mind the need to maintain efficiency.

Chinese President XI Jinping arrives at BRICS summit venue

Chinese President XI Jinping arrives at BRICS summit venue

PM Narendra Modi arrives at BRCIS Summit venue in Kazan | VIDEO

BRICS Summit: World leaders, Delegations arrive to the BRICS summit venue | WATCH

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue of financial settlement problems during bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the RIA news agency cited Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov as saying on Wednesday. Putin hosted a dinner on Tuesday for heads of states who had arrived in the Russian city of Kazan for a meeting of the BRICS countries and had one-on-one conversations with a number of them.

Russia wants the BRICS countries to find alternative international payment solutions, hoping it can help resolve increasing problems in settling trade payments, even with friendly countries such as China, where local banks fear they could be hit by secondary sanctions by the United States.

Russia welcomed the Chinese and Brazilian peace initiative on Ukraine, which was discussed in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS forum in Kazan, the Interfax news agency cited a senior Kremlin aide as saying on Wednesday. Putin hosted a dinner on Tuesday for heads of state who had arrived in Russia for the meeting and had one-on-one conversations with a number of them, Yuri Ushakov said.

1. Foreign Minister Vikram Misri, during a press conference on Wednesday late night, the immediate focus will be on disengagement and then the issue of de-escalation and de-induction of troops will be taken up at an appropriate time.
2. "What it will entail is that in the pending areas under discussion, patrolling and grazing activities, wherever applicable, will revert to the situation as it existed in 2020," he said.
3. The disengagement agreements reached previously were not reopened in these discussions and the pact reached early Monday morning focused on issues that had remained outstanding in the last couple of years, he said.
4. Asked to analyse the overall situation, Misri called it a premature question and noted the focus is to implement the agreement on the ground.
5. To another query, he said the arrangement worked out is expected to prevent clashes as happened in the past on the LAC.
6. "We will have to make continuous efforts that the mechanisms of the agreement will be such that such clashes can be stopped," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold bilateral talks on Wednesday at around 4:30 pm IST on the margins of the BRICS summit in Russia, in their first structured meeting since the eastern Ladakh border row erupted in May 2020. In November 2022, PM Modi and Xi exchanged pleasantries and held a brief conversation at a dinner hosted by the Indonesian President for the G20 leaders. In August last year too, the Indian prime minister and the Chinese president held a brief and informal conversation in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) summit.
The meeting between Modi and Xi will take place in Kazan, the venue for the BRICS summit.

(Reported by- Vijai Laxmi)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in the Russian city of Kazan on Wednesday to attend the meeting of the heads of states of the BRICS group, the TASS news agency cited local authorities as saying. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry criticised Guterres this week for his acceptance of an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the BRICS summit while staying away from a "peace summit" on the war in Ukraine. Guterres' office has said he would discuss the Ukrainian conflict with Putin, as well as the crisis in the Middle East.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan attend a concert before an informal dinner on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a concert before an informal dinner on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a concert before an informal dinner on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan

Participants of the BRICS Summit attend a concert in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive for an informal dinner on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit as both countries have taken significant steps towards easing tensions along their shared border. The meeting in the capital of Tatarstan marks the first formal interaction between the two leaders in five years and follows the two countries reaching an agreement on resuming regular patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.