Sunday 13 July 2014

BRICS summit: PM Modi leaves for Brazil


Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for Brazil on Sunday for attending the five-nation summit of BRICS nations which is expected to finalise the setting up of a development bank and seek reforms of the United Nations and international financial organisations.
Ahead of his departure, Modi said in a statement: “I leave today for Brazil at the invitation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to attend the Sixth BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza and Brasilia on 15-16 July 2014…India attaches high importance to the BRICS forum for promoting global economic growth, peace and stability. In the course of the past five summits and several ministerial and official processes, BRICS has made major strides in pursuit of these goals.”

After a stopover in Berlin on Sunday night, he will leave for Fortaleza, the north-eastern coastal city of Brazil, on Monday for the summit of leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to be held on July 15, providing him his first opportunity at multilateral engagement.
“We meet at a time of political turmoil, conflict and humanitarian crisis in several parts of the world, and persisting weakness and risks in the global economy,” the PM said.
The Prime Minister also said: “I look at the BRICS Summit as an opportunity to discuss with my BRICS partners how we can contribute to international efforts to address regional crisis, address security threats and restore a climate of peace and stability in the world.”
Modi was being accompanied by a high-level delegation including Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser A K Doval, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The sixth summit of BRICS, which will follow up on the decisions of the Durban meeting last year, will provide the new Prime Minister his first opportunity at meeting world leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, and discuss bilateral issues.
BRICS accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s land mass, 40 per cent of its population and a combined GDP of USD 24 trillion.

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