BRICS Summit 2023: In his address at the opening plenary session of the much-awaited 15th BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed full support for the expansion of BRICS membership based on consensus and said that the group will create further opportunities and shape the future of the world.
"India fully supports the expansion of BRICS membership and we welcome moving forward on this based on consensus. In 2016, during India's presidency, we had defined BRICS as a group building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions. Seven years later, we can say that BRICS will be breakiung barriers, revitalising economics, inspiring innovations, creating opportunities and shaping the future," said the Prime Minister in his remarks.
PM Modi also said that India has proposed for granting permanent membership to African Union (AU) in the G20 under the former's presidency and exuded confidence that all BRICS countries will support the inclusion.
In his opening remarks, PM Modi said, "To come to a beautiful city like Johannesburg once again is a matter of joy for me and my delegation. This city has deep and old relations with Indians and Indian history. At a distance from here is located Tolstoy Farm, the construction of which was done by Mahatma Gandhi 110 years ago. By connecting the great ideas of India, Eurasia and Africa, Mahatma Gandhi placed a strong foundation of our unity and harmony."
He also said that the last two decades were a "long and magnificent journey" for BRICS and listed some achievements such as the BRICS Satellite constellation, a vaccine R&D centre and mutual recognition of pharma products.
"Through initiatives such as the Youth Summit, BRICS games, the Think Tanks Council, we are strengthening people-to-people ties between all countries. In order to give the BRICS agenda a new direction, India has given some suggestions on issues such as railway research network, close cooperation between MSMEs, online BRICS database and startup firms. I am happy that significant progress was made on these areas," he said.
During his address, the Indian Prime Minister laid forth some additional suggestions such as a BRICS space exploration consortium, education and skill development enhancement, a skills-mapping exercise, protection of big cats and creation of a repository of traditional medicine between the BRICS partners.
"Diversity is one of India's greatest strengths. The solution to any problem found in India has withstood the test of this diversity and therefore these solutions can easily be implemented in any part of the world. In this regard, we will be pleased to share with our BRICS partners all these platforms developed in India," he said.
"Under the leadership of South Africa, countries of the Global South have been given a special importance in the BRICS. We heartily welcome this. This is not just an expectation of present times but a necessity as well. Under the G20 presidency, India has given this issue the highest priority. Based on our core value 'One Earth, One Family, One Future', we are making efforts to move forward with all countries," PM Modi further said.
The session was opened by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said, "BRICS countries will continue to be supportive of bringing this conflict to an end through dialogue, mediation and negotiation."
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin also joined the meeting, although the latter had to join virtually due to an arrest warrant issued against him for his actions in Ukraine.
"Next year Russia will assume the BRICS chair. In our chairmanship, we will have the following mottos- strengthening multilateralism for global development and security; we plan to have some 200 political, economic and public events; BRICS summit is scheduled for October 2024 in the city of Kazan," said Putin during the summit.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with Ramphosa. The meeting was focused on a wide range of issues aimed at deepening India-South Africa relations, agriculture, defence and health investments. During the closed-door meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was also there from the Indian side.
Notably, India and South Africa are celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations. Taking to social media, MEA spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi said that the leaders also took stock of bilateral cooperation including in areas of defence, agriculture, trade and investment, health, conservation and people-to-people ties.
Also, the spokesperson maintained that the leaders also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues including India’s G20 presidency and South Africa’s BRICS chairship.
(with agency inputs)
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