PM Narendra Modi will come face to face virtually on Tuesday for the second time this month with President Xi Jinping at the 12th Brics summit that will be hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The government said in a statement that the leaders will discuss intra-Brics cooperation and key issues in the global context, including reform of the multilateral system, measures to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, cooperation in counter-terrorism, trade, health, energy and people to people exchanges.
Ahead of the summit, Russian authorities ruled out any possibility of the forum being used to address any bilateral issue but said both India and China could benefit from their participation in Brics.
While focusing on economic issues, especially the need to shore up cooperation in the service sector, Modi is expected to drive home the point that terrorism, terror financing, drug trafficking and organised crime adversely impact the business environment. Modi had described terrorism at the last summit in Brazil as the biggest threat to development.
This will be the second time that Modi and Xi will share some face time in the middle of the military standoff in Ladakh. At the SCO summit last week, in the presence of Xi and Pakistani PM Imran Khan, Modi had underlined the significance of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity while pursuing connectivity initiatives.
India will take over as the chair of Brics which will be the third Brics presidency for India since its inception (after 2012 and 2016) and will host the 13th summit in 2021.
The summit is taking place at a time India and China remain locked in a bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh. While Russia has repeatedly said the dispute should be addressed bilaterally, it has also maintained that multilateral fora like SCO and Brics can be used by member-states to reduce any trust deficit between them. Modi will, in fact, again join Xi for the G20 summit later this week. ( TOI )
