Modi leaves for Brics summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday left for Brazil en route to the sixth edition of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) summit, which will be his first diplomatic assignment outside the subcontinent.

On the sidelines of the summit, Modi is expected to meet top South American leaders, besides holding regular bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the Brics nations.
The summit at the coastal town of Foraleza will allow the prime minister to have his first interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss border issues and Chinese investment in India.

“The summit will be an occasion for my first meetings as prime minister with the leaders of our important global partners—Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa. I look forward to meaningful meetings with them to intensify bilateral relations and exchange views on global and regional developments,” said Modi in his departing statement.

The prime minister said the meeting in Brazil would usher in the second cycle of Brics summit, as every country had hosted it once. In 2012, New Delhi hosted the summit, which came up with the idea of creation of a $100-billion corpus for contingency purposes for the Brics nations.

“I look forward to the successful conclusion of major Brics initiatives, like the Brics Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which have seen significant progress since their launch in New Delhi in 2012. These initiatives will support growth and stability in Brics and also benefit other developing countries,” he said.

India is hoping for an endorsement of the UN Security Council reforms from the Brics as one of the deliverables of the summit. The proposal for Argentina's inclusion into Brics will also come up for discussion.

After the summit, Modi is expected to meet the top leadership from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay in Brasilia in a unique meeting spearheaded by Brazilian President Dilma Roussef, who has invited leaders from other Latin American countries to meet the Brics members.

“India has traditionally enjoyed close, cordial and mutually beneficial ties with these countries. My interactions will enable us to explore new ideas on further consolidating and expanding our ties with South America,” he said.

Incidentally, more than the Brics summit, the prime minister's decision to keep the private media out of the his entourage is being discussed in Delhi's corridors of power.
Similar to his visit to Bhutan last month, only the official media and semi-official news agencies were invited by the Prime Minister's Office for the summit, while most private media outlets have been left out.