BRICS Summit 2023 highlights: ‘India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world,’ says PM Modi

Chinese President Xi Jinping skipped a business forum in South Africa where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, sending Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao instead.

The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa on Tuesday all addressed the event, a prelude to a BRICS summit in Johannesburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a pre-recorded video message — he missed the gathering of emerging-market powers to avoid an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Xi changed his plans. He attended a lunch hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa shortly before the forum.

The two leaders also met as part of Xi’s state visit on Tuesday morning, and Xi called on two countries to boost their combined influence on international affairs in the Global South.

Bloomberg

African countries want China to shift its focus from building infrastructure on the continent to local industrialisation, China's top Africa diplomat said on Tuesday at a briefing on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa.

"African integration is already escalating and many African countries (have) asked China to consider (a) shift (of) our focus," Wu Peng, director-general of China's department of African affairs at its foreign ministry, said.

Wu said the change was needed especially considering the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which was launched at the start of 2021 and is intended to enable African countries to trade tariff-free in future.

Reuters

"Investor confidence has increased after the implementation of GST and Insolvency and Bankruptcy code in India. Defence and Space sectors opened for the private sector...With the use of technology, we have taken a leap in financial inclusion...Today, UPI is being used by street vendors to those shopping malls...We are actively taking steps to make India a manufacturing hub in the areas of solar energy, wind energy, electric vehicles and green hydrogen..," said PM Modi. 

Today, India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Soon, India will be a 5 trillion dollar economy: PM Modi at BRICS Business Forum Leaders' Dialogue in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"..We require a fundamental reform of the global financial institutions so that they can be more agile and responsive to the challenges facing developing economies...," says President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa at BRICS Business Forum in Johannesburg.

Reuters

PM Modi at BRICS Business Forum in South Africa's Johannesburg

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that the BRICS bloc of nations aims to organise the developing Global South and is not meant to rival the United States and the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy economies.

His comments point to a divergence of vision as leaders of the bloc - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - arrived in Johannesburg for a summit that will weigh expanding the group as some members push to forge it into a counterweight to the West.

Heightened global tensions provoked by the Ukraine war and Beijing's growing rivalry with the United States have pushed China and Russia - whose President Vladimir Putin will attend the meeting virtually - to seek to strengthen the BRICS bloc.

Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on South Africa to join him in boosting the countries’ combined influence on international affairs in the Global South.

“We support substantive progress in the G20 and support South Africa employing a greater role,” he told reporters at a joint press conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria, a prelude to this week’s BRICS summit starting on Tuesday. “We are global partners that should uphold justice.”

China and South Africa have thrown their weight behind the expansion of the BRICS bloc ahead of its annual meeting in Johannesburg, an attempt to extend the group’s clout on the world stage and challenge the US-led status quo.

Beijing has been pushing for adding to the five-nation group that also includes Brazil, Russia and India. Ramaphosa publicly gave his backing to the plan in a televised address to the nation on Sunday. More than 20 nations have formally applied to join, he said. These are reported to include Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Egypt.

Bloomberg

PM Modi inspects model of Swaminarayan temple in Johannesburg, South Africa. The construction of the temple will be completed by 2025.

ANI

Arya Samaj South Africa President Arthi Nanakchand Shanand and a member of the Indian community tie rakhis to PM Modi in South Africa's Johannesburg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a special spiritual welcome in Johannesburg, South Africa during the BRICS 2023 Summit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday tweeted, “Landed in Johannesburg a short while ago. Looking forward to the various deliberations and meetings with world leaders during the BRICS Summit over the next few days.”

BRICS leaders meeting in South Africa this week will consider expanding the five-nation bloc at a time of great interest in the group that accounts for a quarter of global wealth.

Opinions differ between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa over accepting new members into the loosely-defined club of major emerging economies that is seeking an alternative to the Western-led international order.

AFP

Indian diaspora welcomes PM Modi with chants of 'Vande Mataram' in Johannesburg hotel

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was accorded a grand welcome by the members of Indian diaspora at Johannesburg in South Africa.

In a video shared by news agency ANI, PM Modi is seen shaking hands with diaspora members, some of whom touched his feet.

Read Here.

PM Modi arrives in South Africa on a three-day visit to attend the 15th BRICS summit, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi says "Deputy President of South Africa received the PM on this arrival. A ceremonial guard of honour will be extended to the PM..."

ANI

Indian diaspora outside Johannesburg hotel eagerly await the arrival of PM Modi

"It is an honour indeed to be in the presence of the Prime Minister. He is a wonderful man and my hero," says a woman of Indian origin in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is notably absent from the BRICS meeting while other world leaders reached Johannesburg in South Africa to attend the three-day summit. The bloc consists of India, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa. This meeting marks the first in-person summit since before the Covid-19 pandemic, but Vladimir Putin will participate via video call after his travel to South Africa was complicated by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for him in March. The warrant was issued over the abduction of children from Ukraine.

Read Here.

PM Narendra Modi greets members of the Indian diaspora who have gathered here to welcome him.

The PM will attend BRICS Business Forum Leaders' Dialogue and dinner hosted by South African President Ramaphosa today.

Members of the Indian community with 'dhols' and other musical instruments await the arrival of PM Modi at Sandton Sun Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa

PM Narendra Modi arrives in South Africa's Johannesburg for the 15th BRICS Summit

Members of the Indian diaspora cheer as PM Modi lands in Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS summit

Leaders of the BRICS nations will focus on ways to reduce dependence on the US dollar when they meet starting Tuesday, South Africa said. The rand advanced after the bloc’s bank agreed to lend $1 billion to a state-owned company.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will also discuss enlarging the group of major emerging market powers at the three-day leaders’ summit. While the dollar’s demise has been mooted many times in recent years, so far other pretenders have been competing among themselves and there’s no conclusive evidence for a structural dollar decline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t attending, avoiding an international arrest warrant over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. China, backed by Russia and South Africa, has been pushing for new members to be admitted to the alliance, an expansion that some BRICS countries say will help position it as a counterweight to the Group of Seven.

Bloomberg

PM Modi lands in South Africa's Johannesburg for 15th summit

China's determination to deepen friendly and cooperative relations with South Africa will not change no matter how the world changes, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday in South Africa's Pretoria.

Xi is in South Africa for a state visit and to attend a BRICS leaders' meeting from Aug. 22-24.

Reuters