New Delhi: Even as Chinese and Russian presidents opposed Western hegemony in opening remarks at the BRICS plenary session Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised India’s full support to expanding membership of the group.
The remarks underlined stark perceptions of BRICS, with Beijing and Moscow making it abundantly clear that they see the grouping as a counterbalance to the West.
While Putin, addressing virtually, used his remarks to defend war in Ukraine, Xi talked about the need to oppose economic decoupling.
Through his commitment to the BRICS expansion, Modi seemingly put to rest speculation that New Delhi was hesitant about admitting new member countries — and offered five suggestions for collaboration in digitisation, skilling and more.
Brazil President Lula da Silva courted the idea of a common BRICS currency, adding that it could “reduce vulnerabilities”. His South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa focussed on advancing the African agenda in his speech.
The bloc, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is holding its first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic.
It remains unclear if Modi and Xi will have a bilateral meeting, at a time when China and India remain engaged in a tense border standoff.
Narendra Modi
In his 10-minute address to the BRICS plenary session, PM Modi stated: “India fully supports the expansion of BRICS, we welcome moving forward with consensus on this.”
This comes as 23 countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Indonesia, have formally applied to join the group, though reports emerged that China and Russia are in favour of a “swift” expansion while India and Brazil have adopted a more cautious approach.
The Indian prime minister credited the New Development Bank, formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, as an “achievement” in helping developing countries through its Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
This, despite the bank being “thinly capitalised at $100 billion”, as described by former diplomat Rajiv Bhatia in a recent piece for India Foundation, and is reportedly facing financial constraints.
He reiterated India’s priority as G20 chair in highlighting issues of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and emphasised the need for the African Union to become a member of the grouping.
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Vladimir Putin
Giving his address via video link while foreign minister Sergey Lavrov represented him in Johannesburg, Putin denounced Western “hegemony” and praised BRICS for standing for a “multi-polar world”.
“The international economic situation is also seriously affected by the illegitimate sanction practice and illegal freezing of assets of sovereign states which essentially amounts to their trampling upon all the basic norms and rules of free trade and economic life,” he said.
He added that BRICS countries are developing strategic economic partnership for 2025 that will include diversification of supply chains, “de-dollarisation” and support for small and medium enterprises.
Russia will be taking over the BRICS Presidency next year. In lieu of this, Putin suggested setting up a BRICS Permanent Commission on Transport to address and improve transport corridors such as the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
INSTC comprises 13 member countries including India, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Oman, Ukraine, and Syria. However, the project has run into many snags due to lack of investment, delayed development of railways in some routes and more.
Xi Jinping
Speaking last, Xi noted that a “Cold War mentality” still haunts the world and that all countries’ paths to modernisation should be respected.
He did make special mention of the need to uphold international rules under the UN charter. “The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. We, the BRICS countries, should always bear in mind our founding principles of strengthening ourselves through unity,” he said.
The Chinese president also encouraged BRICS countries to “oppose decoupling”, supply chain disruption and economic “coercion”.
“We should expand political and security cooperation to uphold peace and tranquillity…The Cold War mentality is still haunting our world and the geo-political situation is getting tense,” he added.
An Artificial Intelligence study group of BRICS institute must be enabled quickly for information exchange, “renewal” of traditional cultures must be promoted and the New Development Bank must be “fully leverage(d)”, Xi suggested.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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