Mutual cooperation among Brics countries can make a useful contribution to post-Covid global recovery and institutional reforms have made the group more effective, PM Modi said while addressing the Brics summit chaired by China’s President Xi Jinping.
The summit expectedly saw discussions on Ukraine with all member-states committing to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States, stressing peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue and supporting all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises.
The Brics meeting, which also emphasised Afghanistan should not be used for carrying out terrorist activities, took place ahead of the G7 summit. Xi slammed the West in the meeting for “weaponising” the world economy through the sanctions against Russia and also warned against any expansion of military ties.
Modi did not allude to the Ukraine situation in his opening remarks and focused mostly on the pandemic. “Even though scale of the epidemic has reduced globally than before, however, many of its ill-effects are still visible in global economy. We, the Brics member countries, have had a very similar view of the governance of the global economy. And so our mutual cooperation can make a useful contribution to post-Covid global recovery,” said Modi, while addressing Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and their Brazilian and South African counterparts, Jair Bolsonaro and Cyril Ramaphosa.
In the meeting, all countries recalled their national positions as expressed at the UNSC and UNGA. India and China are among the few countries that haven’t condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“We support talks between Russia and Ukraine. We have also discussed our concerns over the humanitarian situation in and around Ukraine and expressed our support to efforts of the UN Secretary General, UN Agencies and ICRC to provide humanitarian assistance in accordance with the basic principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality established in UN General Assembly,” said the joint statement.
