PM Modi To Chair BRICS Summit, China's Xi Jinping To Attend Via Video

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to convene the 13th BRICS annual summit on Thursday in a virtual format. The summit is likely to emphasize on  the exacerbating situation in Afghanistan post Taliban takeover.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the meeting is scheduled to include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil''s Jair Bolsonaro. 

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying  announced  on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the summit via video link at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

This is the second time Prime Minister Modi will be chairing the BRICS summit. Earlier he had chaired the Goa summit in 2016.

The theme of the summit would be "Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus."

India had outlined four priority areas, including reform of the multilateral system, counter-terrorism, using digital and technological tools for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and enhancing people to people exchanges.

In addition to these areas, the leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues.

The summit this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of the BRICS.

The BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 percent of the global population, 24 percent of the global GDP and 16 percent of the global trade.

(With PTI Inputs)