With PM Modi in Brazil for BRICS, Cong recalls 2012 summit where Manmohan proposed development bank

New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Brazil to attend the BRICS Summit, the Congress on Sunday recalled the events leading up to the formation of the grouping as also the Summit hosted by India in 2012 during which then PM Manmohan Singh had proposed the establishment of a BRICS Development Bank.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "After dropping by in Ghana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Argentina, the Super Premium Frequent Flier Prime Minister has reached Brazil. The Seventeenth BRICS Summit begins today in Rio de Janeiro."

It was in 1998 that the Arabic-speaking, Asia-leaning, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov floated the idea of a trilateral forum called RIC -- Russia, India and China, he recalled.

This was done to promote multipolarity in global affairs when the US was triumphant, Ramesh said in his post on X.

"Then in November 2001, Jim O'Neill and his research team at Goldman Sachs in New York came out with a report titled Building Better Global Economic BRICs--Brazil, Russia, India and China that were identified as the four powerhouse economies for the future," he said.

The report still makes for very interesting reading, Ramesh added.

Thereafter at the G8 Summit (Russia was then a member of G7 and was to be excluded post-2014) outreach in St. Petersburg in July 2006, the Presidents of Russia, China, and Brazil, and the Prime Minister of India met and gave their nod to the formation of BRIC, he said.

"The very first summit of the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - was held in June 2009 in Russia. Dr. Manmohan Singh attended it. In 2010, South Africa joined the quartet which then became known as BRICS. In 2024 Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and UAE joined and this year Indonesia has been inducted," Ramesh said.

Noting that the first time India hosted the BRICS Summit was in March 2012, Ramesh said that at this meeting in New Delhi, it was Dr. Manmohan Singh who had proposed the establishment of a BRICS Development Bank.

"Three years later, this was to be launched as the New Development Bank headquartered in Shanghai with the eminent Indian banker K.V. Kamath as its first President," he said.

So far India has borrowed about USD 8 billion for various urban transport, water supply, renewable energy, and other infrastructure projects, Ramesh said.

He also posted the link to the report by Jim O'Neill and his research team at Goldman Sachs.

Prime Minister Modi arrived in Rio de Janeiro on a four-day visit, during which he will participate in the 17th BRICS Summit and undertake a state visit.

The prime minister was accorded a ceremonial welcome upon his arrival at the Galeao International Airport on Saturday evening (local time).

This is the fourth leg of his five-nation visit.

BRICS, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been expanded with five additional members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Modi visited Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Argentina as part of the five-nation visit. He will travel to Namibia on the last leg of his tour.