South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor Confirms PM Modi’s Attendance For BRICS Summit

The BRICS group, includes five of the world’s largest developing economies,  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and represents 41 per cent of the world’s population.

The South African government confirmed the attendance of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the upcoming BRICS Summit in South Africa on Monday and put a rest to all rumours hinting that the Indian PM might not be partaking in the conference. 

The BRICS group, includes five of the world’s largest developing economies,  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and represents 41 per cent of the world’s population, 24 per cent of it’s GDP and 16 per cent of it’s trade, reported PTI. 

Addressing the media on the preparations of host country South Africa, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, confirmed the participation of the leaders of all five countries in the conference. Pandor informed the media that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the conference virtually as South Africa is obliged to arrest him due to an ICC warrant. 

Addressing the rumours suggesting PM Modi’s absence, she said, “I did speak to various colleagues in government and outside, and everybody was astounded by this rumour.  I think that someone who is trying to spoil our summit is creating all sorts of stories that suggest that it won’t be successful.”

She further added, “The Prime Minister of India has never said that he is not attending the summit. I am in constant contact with foreign minister Jaishankar. He has never said that. Our sherpas are in touch and they have never said it. So, we have all been trying to look for this needle in a haystack that began this rumour,” as quoted by PTI.

Last week on August 3, New Delhi confirmed that the PM will be visiting Johannesburg to be a part of the conference. The Ministry of External Affairs noted that President Ramaphosa has extended the BRICS Summit invite to the PM via a phone call and informed him about the ongoing preparations. The ministry also revealed in its press release that the PM has accepted the invite and expressed his enthusiasm for the Summit. 

Pandor further clarified to the media that the phone call between the leaders was a pre-planned decision and was not the reason the Indian PM agreed to attend the event, the report said. 

The BRICS Summit is expected to be held from August 22-24 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and will be the 15th edition of the summit. The conference will discuss key agendas like member expansion, global trade, geopolitics, and infrastructure development among others. 

In addition to the five countries, 67 global leaders and various business leaders are expected to take part in the conference. This will be the first in-person summit after the pandemic.