13th BRICS Summit | PM Modi to chair meeting on September 9, COVID situation, Afghanistan likely on agenda

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The 13th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit under the chairmanship of India is set to take place in virtual format on September 9.

The theme for this year summit is ‘BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus'.
PM Modi will chair the summit in presence of Brazil President Jair Bolsanaro, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

India’s National Security Adviser, Shri AjitDoval, President of the New Development Bank, Mr. Marcos Troyjo, the pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Business Council, Shri Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Dr. Sangita Reddy, will present reports on the outcomes pursued this year under their respective tracks to the Leaders during the Summit.

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.

In addition to these areas, the leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues.

Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin had said that the Afghanistan situation was likely to be discussed during the BRICS Summit.

“BRICS is an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries. It is a positive stabilising constructive force in international affairs,” he told a media briefing when asked whether the upcoming BRICS summit will discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

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BRICS countries have a fine tradition of maintaining communication and coordination and making statements on issues on international and regional issues of common interest, and they will continue to do so, he said.

Meanwhile, China and Russia, which have established contacts with Taliban after it seized power in Afghanistan, kept their embassies opened in Kabul, along with Pakistan, while India, the US and other western countries have closed their diplomatic missions and evacuated the staff from the war-ravaged nation.