After completing his engagements at BRICS'19, PM Modi emplanes for India

After completing his engagements on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS summit during his two-day visit to Brazil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (local time) emplaned for India.

The Prime Minister, who had reached the South American country on Wednesday afternoon, started his trip by addressing the closing ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum where he vouched for an easier intra-BRICS business for a faster flow of exports and imports between the countries.

Lauding the efforts of the BRICS member nations, the Prime Minister had also stated that despite the global recession, BRICS nations have contributed to economic development and brought crores of people out of poverty.

In addition, the visiting dignitary, on the same day, held separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The Russian President also reiterated the invitation to the Prime Minister to visit Moscow to participate in the Victory Day celebrations next year, which Modi gladly accepted.

Earlier today, Modi addressed the plenary session of the BRICS summit wherein he stressed the need to focus on increasing trade and investment between the BRICS countries and called for efforts to strengthen cooperation in the field of innovation.

"The theme of this summit - 'Economic growth for an innovative future' is very accurate. Innovation has become the basis of our development. Therefore, it is necessary that we strengthen our cooperation in innovation," he said.

Modi also proposed to hold the first meeting of BRICS Water Ministers in India in order to push for sustainable water management and clean sanitation.

The Prime Minister also called upon the BRICS Business Council to prepare a roadmap to achieve the target of USD 500 billion trade between the member countries of the bloc by 2020, the year when Russia hosts the next summit.

The Prime Minister said that the partnership agreement between New Development Bank (NDB) and BRICS Business Council will be helpful for both the institutions, adding that India also requires huge infrastructure financial assistance.

He requested BRICS countries and NDB to join the coalition for disaster-resilient infrastructure and called for the completion of the regional office of NDB in India, saying it will give a boost to projects in priority areas.

In his concluding remarks, Modi said that India's dream of strengthening BRICS economic cooperation can be realised only with the full cooperation of the BRICS Business Council and the NDB.