India confirms PM Modi's in-person attendance at BRICS summit in South Africa

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (August 3) held a telephone conversation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and confirmed in-person participation at the BRICS summit, scheduled later this month. Modi and Ramaphosa also spoke about regional and global issues of mutual interest.

The official statement mentioned that the two leaders "positively assessed" the progress in bilateral cooperation, including in the context of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations being celebrated in 2023.

During the call, Ramaphosa invited PM Modi to the BRICS Summit, which is being hosted by South Africa on August 22-24 and briefed the Indian prime minister on the preparations for the same.

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Pleased to speak with President @CyrilRamaphosa. Reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation as we celebrate 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. Look forward to participating in the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg later this month. @PresidencyZA — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 3, 2023

The invitation has been accepted by PM Modi, who also conveyed that he is looking forward to his visit to Johannesburg to participate in the summit.

The government statement said that Ramaphosa conveyed his full support to India's initiatives as part of its ongoing G-20 Presidency.

The South African president said that he looked forward to visiting India to attend the G-20 Summit. India will host a summit of its leaders in early September.

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15th BRICS summit

This will be the fifteenth annual BRICS summit, which is an international relations conference attended by leaders of the five member states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Russia recently said that the BRICS group of countries would be strengthened by adding new members, in its most explicit endorsement yet of the idea of expansion.

Moscow was commenting on 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 United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently told reporters: "Of course, we believe that in one form or another, the expansion of BRICS will contribute to the further development and strengthening of this organisation."

(With inputs from agencies)

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