Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 13th BRICS Summit via videolink in Beijing on September 9. Chinese Foreign Ministry said this in a statement on its website. India is the chair of this year’s BRICS summit which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the third time that India will be hosting the BRICS Summit after 2012 and 2016. COVID-19 pandemic has not only forced the summit to be held virtually since last year but has also changed the geostrategic landscape to a great extent. This year’s BRICS summit becomes even more important when three of the BRICS member states viz. India, Russia and China are recalibrating their strategies to deal with the new security situation in Afghanistan as they are worried about Afghanistan again becoming safe haven for terror organizations under hardline Islamic policies of Taliban rule. The meeting will also be attended by the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsanaro; President of Russia, Vladimir Putin; and President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. India’s National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval will make a presentation on security issues.
Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week that recently BRICS countries already had communication and coordination on the Afghan issue at the BRICS NSA meeting. The ministry spokesperson added that BRICS is an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries. It is a positive stabilizing constructive force in international affairs. We have a fine tradition of maintaining communication and coordination and making statements on issues on international and regional issues of common interests. BRICS countries will continue to do so, the spokesperson said.
The theme for the 13th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit under the chairmanship of India will is ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus’. The summit this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of the BRICS. President of the New Development Bank, Marcos Troyjo, the pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Business Council, Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Dr Sangita Reddy, will also present reports on the outcomes pursued this year, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. India also welcomed Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay as new members of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).