The 13th BRICS Summit, to be held virtually under the chairmanship of India, will be held on September 9, the government said Monday. The Ministry of External Affairs informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “will chair the 13th BRICS Summit on 9 September 2021 in virtual format”.
The meeting will be attended by Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a release, the MEA said: “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.”
China had said last week that the Afghanistan situation was likely to be taken up during the BRICS Summit this month.“BRICS is an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries. It is a positive stabilising constructive force in international affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin had said in response to a question on whether the upcoming summit will take up the Afghanistan matter.
Wang added that BRICS member states have maintained a fine tradition on maintaining communication and coordination and issuing statements on international and regional matters of common interest.
It is the third time that India is playing host to the BRICS Summit. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are members of the BRICS grouping.
BRICS is marking its 15th anniversary this year and the theme of the 13th summit is – ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus’.
“It is a matter of great pride that BRICS has been a beacon of multilateralism based on equality, mutual respect and trust. The theme reflects our approach to strengthen the founding principles of BRICS cooperation based on continuity, consolidation and consensus,” the 13th BRICS Summit website states.
India has listed the reform of the multilateral system and counter-terrorism cooperation as its priorities this year for BRICS.
