BRICS a powerful voice of developing nations, must become even stronger: PM

The grouping of five nations calls for peace in Afghanistan

The territory of Afghanistan must not be used to carry out terror attacks against other countries, the five-nation influential grouping BRICS said on Thursday and strongly called for combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists.

The grouping held extensive deliberations on pressing issues, including the situation in Afghanistan at a virtual summit chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cautioned against any complacency among BRICS members and called for making the grouping of five nations more productive in the next 15 years.

"... (it is important that) we do not become too self-satisfied and we must ensure that BRICS is even more result-oriented in the next 15 years," Modi said, while chairing the 13th BRICS Summit virtually.

The summit, hosted by India, was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro. He said the grouping of Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa has become an influential voice of emerging economies of the world. 

He said the grouping has also been useful for focusing on priorities of the developing nations. Modi also highlighted that cooperation between the Customs departments of the five nations will make trade among these nations easier. He disclosed that BRICS has adopted a counter-terrorism plan.

He said BRICS has created powerful institutions, such as the New Development Bank,  Contingency Reserve Arrangement, and the Energy Research Cooperation Platform. He said BRICS, under the chairmanship of India, has organised 150 meetings and programmes, of which more than 20 were ministerial, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pointing out that efforts were made to expand the BRICS agenda, he said many firsts were achieved this year. "It was for the first time that BRICS took a collective position on strengthening and reforming multilateral systems."  

He also said the first BRICS digital health conference was organised recently, which was an innovative step to improve access to health through technology. Besides, water resources ministers will meet in November in the BRICS format, he said.

He said these initiatives will not only benefit citizens of the five nations, but will also make BRICS relevant in the times to come. He said with the agreement on remote sensing satellite constellation between space agencies of BRICS nations, a new chapter of cooperation has begun. 

"There has also been a consensus with regards to starting a virtual BRICS Vaccination Research and Development Centre. The BRICS Alliance on green tourism is also another new initiative, "he pointed out. 

BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global gross domestic product, and 16 per cent of the global trade. India hosted the summit in its capacity as its chair.

With inputs from PTI