M A I N   N E W S

BRICS Summit: PM to meet Chinese, Russian Presidents
Ashok Tuteja and R Sedhuraman
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave for Brazil next week to attend the sixth BRICS Summit to be held on July 15-16. He will have bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the sidelines of the summit. The meetings would be aimed at further strengthening trade and other ties with the two nations.

This will be Modi’s first meeting with Xi, who is expected to visit India later this year. Briefing reporters on the BRICS Summit and the PM’s meetings with BRICS and Latin American leaders, Sujata Mehta (Secretary, Economic Affairs) and Dinkar Khullar (Secretary-West in the External Affairs Ministry), said the schedule for the bilateral meetings was still being worked out. “You can be rest assured that there will be bilateral meetings,” they said.

The summit would focus on UN Security Council reforms and the proposed BRICS Development Bank and a common fund to meet situations arising from possible liquidity crunch in any member nations of BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“We will be hoping for an endorsement of the need for UNSC reforms and that is an important issue we will pursue in these discussions,” the officials said in response to a question on India’s expectations from the meet.

Asked about the likely headquarters and activities of the proposed bank, they said all aspects were still under discussion. It would be a bank giving concessional credit to BRICS members and other developing nations identified by them.

Modi and other BRICS leaders would have a meeting with their counterparts from other nations of Latin America on July 16. The officials said a larger number of leaders had expressed their interest in meeting Modi. The bilateral meetings would be held depending on the convenience of time.

On his arrival in Brasilia, Modi would go to the Presidential Palace where he would have a reception and talks. “The Prime Minister is more concerned about the substance” than other things, they said in response to a query as to whether he would prefer a ceremonial reception or breakfast, the options given by the host country.

On July 15, there would be closed-door discussions between BRICS leaders, besides an open session.