New Delhi: As part of India’s ongoing Chairship of BRICS in 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 13th Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa Summit today in virtual format. The theme for the Summit is BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus. 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.
The BRICS leaders will exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues. The meeting will be attended by the President of Brazil Jair Bolsanaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. This is the second time Prime Minister Modi will be chairing the BRICS Summit. Earlier he had chaired the Goa Summit in 2016.
The Indian Chairship of BRICS this year coincides with the fifteenth anniversary of BRICS. India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, President of the New Development Bank Marcos Troyjo, the pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Business Council, Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Dr. Sangita Reddy will present reports on the outcome pursued this year under their tracks to the leaders during the summit. Anupam Mishra, AIR News, Delhi.
Talking to AIR News, Defence Expert and Director of Society for Policy Studies, C. Uday Bhaskar said the summit is significant in view of the ongoing developments in Afghanistan.
He also said the situation in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for India as the Taliaban led government is pro-Pakistan.
