File photo of Brazil's Lula da Silva, China's Xi Jinping, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Indian PM Narendra Modi during the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to attend the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro on July 6 and 7, New Delhi expects that the declaration to be adopted by the bloc would strongly address the menace of terrorism in view of the April 22 carnage in Jammu and Kashmir.
The recent conclave of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held at Qingdao in China ended without an outcome document because Pakistan had objected to India’s proposal to incorporate in it a strongly worded condemnation for the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, at a meadow near Baisaran in Pahalgam in J&K. New Delhi, however, expects that the BRICS nations would not flinch from denouncing the attack carried out by a gang of terrorists owing allegiance to The Resistance Force – a proxy of anti-India terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyiba based in Pakistan.
“There is no contradiction in the way the (BRICS) members have come out with their understanding, and their sympathy and their solidarity with India on (the terrorist attack at) Pahalgam (in J&K),” Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), told journalists in New Delhi. “I think this has been very well captured in the declaration (to be issued after the summit). And all the members are very sensitive to this matter, and there is also a broader understanding in how to deal with this menace of terrorism”.
Pakistan is not a member of the BRICS, which now comprises 10 nations, including its “all-weather friend” China.
President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia would not attend the summit to be hosted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“I think when you get the (BRICS) declaration out, you will see (that) the language (of condemnation of terrorism) is much to our satisfaction there,” Ravi said in response to a question by a journalist about the outcome document to be adopted at the end of the summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The prime minister will commence his five-nation tour with a visit to Ghana from Wednesday to Thursday. He will then visit Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday and Friday, and Argentina on Friday and Saturday. He will then fly to Rio de Janeiro to attend the BRICS summit as well as to Brasilia for a bilateral visit to Brazil.
The prime minister will exchange views on key global issues during the BRICS summit, including reform of global governance, peace and security, strengthening multilateralism, responsible use of artificial intelligence, climate action, global health, the economic and financial matters. He is also likely to hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. He will then travel to Brasilia, where he will hold bilateral discussions with Lula on the broadening of the strategic partnership between the two countries in areas of mutual interest, including trade, defence, energy, space, technology, agriculture, health and people-to-people linkages.
Before returning to Delhi, PM Modi will visit Namibia on July 9.