Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday called for the expansion of the five-nation grouping, while addressing the opening plenary session of the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg. He emphasized that India has given highest priority to countries of Global South under its G20 presidency.
“India fully supports the expansion of BRICS and welcomes move to move forward on this based on consensus,” the Indian prime minister said.
\“We welcome the move to give special importance to the countries of the Global South in BRICS under the chairmanship of South Africa. This is not just the aspiration, but also the need of the present times. India has also given importance to this subject under its G20 presidency. One Earth One Family One Future - we are trying to move forward with all countries on this mantra. In the Voice of Global South summit in January this year, 125 countries participated and shared their concerns and priorities,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi also proposed a permanent membership of G20 to the African Union. “I am confident that our BRICS partners will support this in G20,” PM Modi added.
PM Modi also called for establishing a BRICS space exploration consortium. “We are already working on the BRICS satellite constellation, but to move a step further, we should think about establishing a BRICS space exploration consortium,” PM Modi said at the leaders’s summit.
The Indian prime minister further said, "We will need to make our respective societies future-ready to make BRICS a future-ready organisation.”
Beside India’s Prime Minister Modi, China’s President Xi Jinping also called on the BRICS bloc of emerging markets to fast-track a plan to expand its members at a summit in South Africa.
“I am glad to see growing enthusiasm from developing countries about participating in BRICS,” Xi said in a speech at BRICS summit in Johannesburg. The bloc should “accelerate the BRICS expansion process to bring more countries into the BRICS family,” he added.
The BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41% of the global population, 24% of the global GDP and 16% of the global trade. A total of 23 countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and Argentina, have expressed interest in joining the group.
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