13th BRICS Summit: PM Modi Chairs Virtual Meet, Says India Received Full Cooperation From All Members

The theme for this year's meeting is ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus’.

PM Modi addressing 13th BRICS Summit. (Image: Twitter/PIB)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired the 13th BRICS Summit via video conferencing. "India has received full cooperation from all members during its chairship of BRICS. I thank all members for this," PM Modi said in his opening remarks.

"We will have to ensure that BRICS yields more results in 15 years. The theme that has been chosen by India for its chairmanship, reflects this priority," PM Modi said while chairing the meeting.

"The theme selected by India for the duration of its chairship is 'BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus’. These 4 Cs are basic principles of our BRICS partnership," the Prime Minister said.

PM also said that it was also the first time that BRICS took a shared position on "Strengthening and Improving Multilateral Systems".

We have also adopted the BRICS "Counter-Terrorism Action Plan", he added.

The 13th BRICS Summit is a virtual meeting of world leaders but India is the chair country. India had last hosted the BRICS Summit twice in 2012 and 2016. The meeting is attended by the President of Brazil, H.E. Mr. Jair Bolsonaro; President of Russia, H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin; President of China, H.E. Mr. Xi Jinping; and President of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa. 

The theme for this year's meeting is ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus’. This will essentially mark the 15 years since the formation of BRICS in 2006. The theme reflects India's approach to strengthen the founding principles of BRICS cooperation based on continuity, consolidation, and consensus.

As chair of the meeting, India will work on the following deliverables: 

Political and Security: To increase cooperation and dialogue on issues of global and regional security. To promote peace, etc. Cooperation on counter-terrorism is also going to be discussed. 

Economic and Financial:To promote economic growth and development for mutual prosperity and recognizing the importance of technological and digital solutions for achieving Sustainable Developmental Goals. 

Cultural and People to People: To promote  cultural, academic, youth, sports, business, and other exchange between intra-BRICS countries. 

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

India’s National Security Adviser, Shri AjitDoval, President of the New Development Bank, Mr. Marcos Troyjo, the pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Business Council, Shri Onkar Kanwar and pro tempore Chair of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, Dr. Sangita Reddy, will present reports on the outcomes pursued this year under their respective tracks to the Leaders during the Summit.