At the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, Indian PM Narendra Modi said, “India fully supports the expansion of the BRICS membership. And welcomes moving forward with consensus in this.”
Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the summit in person, while Russian President Vladimir Putin participated virtually.
Importance of Global South
During the meeting, Modi supported the expansion of BRICS and called upon the members to support India’s proposal for the African Union’s permanent membership of the G20.
Modi said, “The countries of the Global South have been given special importance in BRICS, under the chairmanship of South Africa.” He added that this emphasis on the Global South is the need of the present time, and India has prioritised the topic under its G20 presidency.
Making a play on the grouping’s acronym, the Indian PM called for a strengthened BRICS that will be “Breaking barriers, Revitalising economies, Inspiring Innovation, Creating opportunities, and Shaping the future.”
My remarks at Plenary Session I of BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. https://t.co/JqJPCv045R
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 23, 2023
He highlighted that India wishes to move forward with all the countries on the motto of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.”
Achievements of BRICS
Modi appreciated BRICS’ New Development Bank and said it “is playing an important role in the development of the countries of the Global South.”
He added that BRICS is strengthening people-to-people ties between all countries through initiatives like the Youth Summit, BRICS Games, and Think Tanks Council.
“With initiatives like BRICS satellite Constellation, Vaccine R&D Centre, mutual recognition of pharma products, we are bringing positive changes in the lives of common citizens of BRICS countries,” he stressed.
Cooperation in Space, Tech
In his speech, Modi proposed five suggestions for further broadening close cooperation among BRICS members.
First, Modi said that while the members are already working on the BRICS satellite constellation, they should consider creating a BRICS Space Exploration Consortium to work for global good in space research and weather monitoring.
Second, he suggested cooperation in education, skill development and technology.
The Indian PM said India is ready to share its platforms, including DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), the AI-based language platform Bhashini, and the CoWIN platform for vaccination, with BRICS nations.
Skill Mapping, Big Cats, Traditional Medicine
In his third suggestion, Modi said that BRICS countries can do skills mapping together to identify each other’s strengths, enabling them to complement each other in the development journey.
Had an excellent meeting with President @CyrilRamaphosa. We discussed a wide range of issues aimed at deepening India-South Africa relations. Trade, defence and investment linkages featured prominently in our discussions. We will keep working together to strengthen the voice of… pic.twitter.com/xhxEClr1Dl
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 23, 2023
Giving his fourth suggestion, the Indian leader highlighted that many big cats of different species are found in all five BRICS countries. He said, “Under the International Big Cat Alliance, we can make joint efforts for their protection.”
Lastly, Modi suggested that BRICS nations create a repository of traditional medicine.
Meeting with Ramaphosa
The Indian PM also met host and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the summit’s sidelines and reviewed the progress made in bilateral relations between the two countries.
The South African leader fully supported India’s G20 presidency and appreciated India’s initiative to give the African Union full membership of the G20.
The Indian PM congratulated Ramaphosa on the successful hosting of the BRICS Summit and accepted the South African president’s invitation to pay a State Visit to South Africa at a mutually convenient date.