US welcomes BRICS effort of constructive engagement

The US has welcomed the efforts of BRICS countries to engage constructively in global issues of importance.

"US welcomes BRICS effort of constructive engagement," a State Department spokesman said.

The spokesman was responding to a question on the eighth BRICS Summit being hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa.

BRICS Summit followed by the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit will be held in Goa.

Ahead of the Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he was looking forward to building bridges to new partnerships and finding common resolve and solutions to entrenched problems of the region.

Modi, who will also hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders on the sidelines of the Summits in Goa, said they will discuss ways to address "pressing international and regional challenges that stand in the way of our goals".

The five BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — represent over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world population and they have a combined GDP of $16.6 trillion.

India is likely to push for unity among the BRICS members to remove the logjam at the UN on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) for effectively dealing with terror.

Initiated by India, the CCIT is stuck at the UN due to lack of agreement among its members about the definition of terrorism.