Modi departs for BRICs summit, counter-terror on agenda

Modi to have bilateral meetings with Putin, Jinping and Bolsonaro

PTI11_12_2019_000084A Prime Minister Narendra Modi emplanes for Brazil to take part in BRICS Summit, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Nov. 12 | PTI/PIB

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for the two day BRICS leaders summit being hosted in Brazil on November 13-14. Countering terrorism will be top on the agenda of the summit, with the joint working group on terror having set up five sub-working groups this year, namely terrorist financing, use of internet in terrorism, countering radicalisation, the issue of foreign terrorist fighters and capacity building [to counter terror].

India will chair the sub group on the use of internet by terrorist groups. In a meet ahead of the summit, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has proposed a workshop on digital forensics, to be held in India.

BRICS is an important multilateral platform for India, given that it is a strong pressure group on the reform of multilateralism and institutes of global governance, and it also forms a bridge between the developed and developing worlds, said T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations), at a special briefing on November 8.

BRICS has a strong focus on countering terrorism as well as on economic cooperation. At the summit, an MoU between the various trade and investment promotion agencies will be signed. Other outcomes of the summit will be the establishment of a women's business alliance, a networking of research institutes and the launch of the BRICS Institute for Future Networks.

The BRICS group represents 42 per cent of the global population, 23 percent of its GDP and 17 per cent of global trade.

BRICs leaders often have a mini summit on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. They had recently met at the G-20 summit in Osaka earlier this year. During India’s presidency in 2016, the country started several initiatives like a film festival and a young scientists forum, which continue to be held. India will, in March 2020, also host the first BRICS film technology symposium.

Modi will also hold important bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. On November 13, he will have bilateral meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Brazilian president Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Incidentally, Modi is rumoured to invite Bolsonaro as chief guest for the Republic Day function.