Putin to meet PM Modi, other leaders on sidelines of BRICS Summit: Presidential aide

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, TASS reported citing the Russian president’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov.

Speaking to reporters, Ushakov stated that the meetings will start on October 22. He said Putin will have a meeting with New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff. Following his talks with Rousseff, Putin will hold a meeting with PM Modi and later with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Furthermore, Putin’s meetings are also planned with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to TASS report.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a warm welcome as he lands in Kazan, Russia. He is here to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, being held under the Chairmanship of Russia.

The Prime Minister is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from BRICS… pic.twitter.com/ATyEIRSXZa

— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2024

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Russia from today to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, being held in Kazan, under the Chairmanship of Russia. He is visiting Russia at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ushakov said, “Several working meetings are due on the second day. After the narrow and extended meetings, there will be a conversation between our president and the President of the Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian and the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Then Putin will meet with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali”.

He stated that Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Mahmoud Abbas, according to TASS report. He will also meet his Laos counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Bolivian President Luis Arce. Yury Ushakov said Putin will also meet Antonio Guterres and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The BRICS Summit is set to take place in Kazan under Russia’s chairmanship on October 22-23. The Summit, themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”, will provide an important platform for leaders to discuss key global issues,” according to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

It further said, “The Summit will offer a valuable opportunity to assess the progress of initiatives launched by BRICS and to identify potential areas for future collaboration.”

BRIC, as a formal grouping, started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St Petersburg on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The first BRIC Summit was held in Russia’s Yekaterinburg in 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in 2010. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011. A further expansion of BRICS took place in 2024 with five new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Putin stated that BRICS plays a significant role in the global economy not only today and that it is quite obvious that this role will increase in the future as well, TASS reported. He said that the countries that are part of the BRICS are in fact the drivers of global economic growth.

According to TASS report, Putin said that in the year 1992 the share of the Group of Seven countries is 45.5 per cent while that of BRICS countries account for 16.7 per cent of global GDP. Putin said BRICS in 2023 accounted for 37.4 per cent and the G7 is 29.3 per cent.

“The gap is widening and it will widen, this is inevitable”, Putin said in his address. Putin stressed that BRICS plays a significant role in the global economy not only today. The Russian President stressed that the joint work of BRICS to accelerate socio-economic growth and ensure sustainable development brings tangible results, and actually contributes to improving the well-being and quality of life of ordinary citizens of countries.

“In recent decades, over 40 per cent of the growth in global GDP, the entire global economic dynamics, came from the BRICS countries. Based on the results of the current year, the average rate of economic growth in BRICS is projected at 4 per cent This is higher than both the rates in the G7 countries — there it is only 1.7 per cent — and the global rates. The global rates will be 3.2 per cent”, Putin said as quoted by TASS.

He also recalled that BRICS accounts for about a quarter of global goods exports, while companies from the association’s countries dominate many key markets, including energy resources, metals, and food, that is, markets for those goods without which sustainable economic development is impossible. (ANI)