Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the BRICS Summit in the South African capital, Johannesburg on August 22-24. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced to attend the summit virtually.
The forthcoming BRICS summit has become crucial, as other countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates want to join the institution. It is understood that some 25 countries have applied to join BRICS and a decision whether or not to expand the five-nation body will be taken at Johannesburg.
The BRICS group of emerging economies currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
On August 3, Russia said that the BRICS group of countries would be strengthened by adding new members. In a press briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the expansion will contribute to the further development and strengthening of this organisation. The statement came after a remark by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that it was “extremely important” for Saudi Arabia to join BRICS, along with Argentina and the UAE, if they wished to.
Strengthening BRICS forms part of Russia’s vision of building a new “multipolar world”. It values ties with developing countries and wants to increase trade with them to neutralise the effect of Western sanctions on its economy.
