Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the three-day BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, which began on August 22. In his departure statement, the PM Modi highlighted the significance of the BRICS platform for discussing global issues. He emphasized that BRICS has evolved into a platform for addressing concerns of the Global South, focusing on development priorities and reforming the multilateral system.
The BRICS Summit brings together the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with South Africa holding the presidency for this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to join the summit virtually and Moscow is being represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.The event aims to explore areas of cooperation among member countries and review institutional development. This year’s in-person summit holds particular significance as it marks the first time the leaders have met face-to-face in three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Prime Minister’s visit will also include an important bilateral stopover in Athens, Greece, on August 25, where he has been invited by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This visit holds significance as Modi becomes the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Greece in 40 years.
It has been a packed diplomatic calendar for India this year. India has already held G20 meetings, and the Quad foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi. It was followed by the visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and which was followed by that of Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. India also held Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa in May which was also attended by Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. This was followed by the Quad leaders’ summit in Australia. Subsequently, the PM Modi also visited the US where he addressed the joint session of the US Congress.
The flurry of these major geopolitical events in India once again reflect India’s growing global diplomatic heft. Things are only set to get better from hereon. All major powers even when they are on opposite sides of the geopolitical divide want to be friends with India. On the other hand, Washington’s priorities with India are no longer regional in their nature but their scope is the larger geo-politics. It goes without saying that India’s 1.4 billion population with a value addition of a burgeoning middle class has become an ultimate attraction for the west. Besides, India’s calling card of democracy – albeit hemmed in by issues of its own – in a region of dysfunctional countries, autocracies and Chinese communism are making India a global favourite. Whatever side you look at it from, this is one of the best times for the country. It is this context that India’s role in BRICS assumes a huge geopolitical significance. With over 40 countries keen to join the grouping, the BRICS is shaping up as a major alliance of the most powerful countries outside the west, giving India an even bigger geopolitical profile, second only to China.
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