NEW DELHI, June 30: The BRICS leaders’ declaration to be unveiled at the grouping’s annual summit in Rio de Janeiro is set to forcefully denounce the Pahalgam terror attack and call for a firm approach to unitedly confront terrorism in line with India’s expectation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit in the Brazilian city on July 6 and 7. India will be the grouping’s chair for the next year.
The prime minister is travelling to Brazil as part of his five-nation tour from July 2 to 9. The other countries that the prime minister is visiting are Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina and Namibia.
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Dammu Ravi, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry, told a media briefing that Modi’s participation in the summit will be an expression of India’s solidarity with the bloc and it will be a great opportunity for him to connect with the leaders of the Global South.
Ravi suggested that the BRICS leaders’ declaration will have reference to the challenge of terrorism that will be much to the satisfaction of India.
“There is no contradiction in the way the members have come out with their understanding, sympathy and solidarity with India on Pahalgam I think this has been very well captured in the (leaders) declaration and all the members are very sensitive to this matter,” he said.
“There is also a broader understanding on how to deal with this menace of terrorism and no one should be spared in dealing with it. I think that is very well captured.”
“When you get the declaration, you will see the language is much to our satisfaction,” Ravi added.
BRICS brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.
The BRICS declaration is also expected to feature a reference to the Iran-Israel conflict.
The senior diplomat said four concrete “deliverables” are expected from the BRICS summit that include global governance and artificial intelligence, a framework declaration on climate finance and a partnership for the elimination of socially determined diseases.
Asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin deciding to skip the summit, Ravi only said it will be a key forum for India to continue to push for the interests of the Global South.
Ravi indicated that the BRICS summit could also deliberate on the issue of carrying out trade settlements in national currencies.
“Countries in the Global South are also looking at alternatives. It is not a de-dollarisation issue. Countries are also doing trade settlements in national currencies. This has been going on for quite sometime,” he said.
Ravi said BRICS is bringing some understanding of how important it is to have alternative mechanisms to do trade and projects in national currencies.
“It is a process and we are confident that it will get traction in days to come,” he said.
BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, with Indonesia joining in 2025. (PTI)
