India welcomed Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and other new BRICS members at a significant gathering that Russia, which assumed the chairmanship of BRICS on January 1, organised. At the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in western Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod, senior diplomat Dammu Ravi represented India.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, tweeted, “India warmly welcomes the new member.” Upholding multilateralism and international law, addressing global and regional trends, and incorporating new members into BRICS procedures were the main topics of discussion during the summit.
Subjects such as global health, climate pledges, UN reform, and resistance to protectionist policies were also covered.
Argentina was accepted as well, but it withdrew. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi both attended the meeting. The EAM of India usually attends; however, S. Jaishankar was unable to do so because of his recent reappointment.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia highlighted that the BRICS organisation had grown to include ten countries and emphasised its values of multipolarity, openness, and sovereign equality. Putin revealed that around 250 events would take place during the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024.
