Indian PM Narendra Modi will arrive in South Africa on 22 August at the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg under the South African Chairmanship.
This is the first in-person BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the summit, Modi will visit Greece on 25 August, becoming the first Indian PM to do so in 40 years.
Modi @ 15th BRICS Summit
This year’s theme of the BRICS Summit is ‘BRICS and Africa – Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.’
On 22 August, Modi will participate in the BRICS Leaders Retreat, a closed-door engagement.
The BRICS Summit will be held on 23 August, wherein Modi will participate in the closed and open plenaries. The open plenary would see the participation of the President of the New Development Bank, the Chair of the BRICS Business Council, and the Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, among others.
Leaving for South Africa to take part in the BRICS Summit being held in Johannesburg. I will also take part in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue events. The Summit will give the platform to discuss issues of concern for the Global South and other areas of…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 22, 2023
In his departure statement before the trip, Modi said, “This Summit will provide a useful opportunity for BRICS to identify future areas of cooperation and review institutional development.”
BRICS Expansion
The upcoming summit is expected to include a discussion on the expansion of BRICS countries.
The Indian side has previously dismissed reports of being opposed to the expansion due to Chinese dominance. It said, “In so far as the BRICS expansion is concerned, we have been very clear from the start that we have a positive intent and an open mind when it comes to the BRICS expansion.”
During a media briefing, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “All the BRICS countries have to have full consensus on how they would want BRICS expanded, what should be the guiding principles of that expansion, what would be the criteria for such an expansion.”
Over 40 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Argentina, Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan, have expressed interest in joining the forum, according to 2023 summit chair South Africa.
It is viewed that China wants to push the BRICS bloc to become a full-scale rival to the G7, a move that is considered anti-Western by many.
Bilateral Meetings, Meeting with Xi
In his address, Modi said, “I look forward to interacting with a number of guest countries that have been invited to participate in this event.”
In particular, all eyes are on Modi’s possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
India and China have had sour relations since the LAC stand-off and killings at Galwan in 2020. In the latest commander-level talks, friendly statements were issued by the two sides signalling the desire to reach a breakthrough on de-escalation at the border.
"Schedule is being decided", foreign secretary Kwatra on if any PM Modi, Chinese Prez Xi meet will happen in South Africa on the sidelines of BRICS summit https://t.co/6XsxbWSRsE pic.twitter.com/CPW07jmux1
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) August 21, 2023
While Modi and Xi have not held talks in a long time, it was recently revealed that the two leaders discussed boundary issues at the G20 summit in Bali last year.
Post May 2022, India has been reiterating that until the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) withdraws from its position, the political relations between India and China cannot be normal.
A Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of BRICS might suggest a new development in the border situation.
Common BRICS Currency
Answering questions about the possibility of a common BRICS currency being discussed, Kwatra said that BRICS discussions, so far, have focused on how to increase trade in respective national currencies, which is considerably different from a common currency concept.
He said, “Common currency discussions have several prerequisites before you can even talk about a common currency framework.”