PM Modi left for Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday morning to attend the 15th BRICS summit. While leaving, he expressed confidence that the BRICS summit would provide a useful opportunity to the member countries to identify areas of future cooperation and take stock of institutional developments. In a statement issued by the Prime Minister, he said that BRICS countries are adopting a strong cooperation agenda in various fields. In addition, he said that “we believe that BRICS has become a platform for discussion and deliberation on various issues of concern to the entire ‘Global South’, including development imperatives and reform of the multilateral system.”
However, PM Modi later posted on the social media platform ‘X’ saying, “Leaving for South Africa to attend the BRICS summit to be held in Johannesburg. I will also participate in the ‘BRICS-Africa Outreach’ and ‘BRICS Plus Dialogue’ programmes. The BRICS summit will provide a platform to discuss various issues of concern to the ‘Global South’ and other areas of development.
Why BRICS summit special?
This will be the first face-to-face summit of BRICS leaders after 2019. BRICS countries include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This time the BRICS conference is special in many ways and the whole world will keep an eye on it. If experts are to be believed, China wants to expand BRICS and make it stand in front of western countries, which can challenge it. For this, many countries from UAE to Pakistan have expressed their desire to join BRICS.
Talking with the digital team of ABP, Professor Harsh V. Pant, an expert in international affairs, says that tension is going on at the moment regarding the expansion of BRICS. At present, the foreign policy of Russia-China is mainly anti-West. Both the countries are at loggerheads with the western countries, especially America. Russia and China are coming very close to each other.
He believes that where BRICS started, there was hope for a country like India that if an influential country like China is in it, it would be good for Indian interests. Brazil and South Africa will also hope that how they will be able to balance China within BRICS. The principle of BRICS is consensual based. Decision is taken by consensus. The expansionist and aggressive attitude of China can be controlled through BRICS, this hope must have been with India as well as Brazil and South Africa. Russia is being seen as a junior partner of China in the situation created after the war with Ukraine. Both the countries are coming closer to each other. There is a lot of anti-Western in his foreign policy.
Anti waste agenda
Harsh V. Pant says that when BRICS was started, it was believed that these are the growing…emerging economies of the world and these economies should be given more exposure to global institutions…especially financial institutions… There should be representation and importance.
If we look at the initial BRICS agenda, it was more on how to break the monopoly of western countries on international institutions. Now another problem has come inside BRICS. China became very influential. Relations between Russia and China have become so good that both countries will definitely try to show BRICS as an anti-Western platform. India and other countries Brazil, South Africa would like that BRICS should not be projected in this way.
Currently there are 5 countries in BRICS and problems are increasing inside them. There is a dispute between India and China. Russia and China want to give the group an anti-Western identity, India, Brazil and South Africa do not want this. There are only 5 countries, yet there are differences regarding some issues related to expansion from inside. Until those differences are resolved, I think that expansion of BRICS will not be the right policy.
