Language of diplomacy

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Brazil to attend the 6th BRICS summit of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has proudly publicised the fact that it has set up a site in Spanish. The effort, it says, is to expand the outreach since Modi is also expected to meet the leaders of 11 other Latin American countries where Spanish is the lingua franca. Good idea, but perhaps the MEA would have been truly diplomatic if the site had also included a Portuguese version, since that is the lingua franca of the Brazilian hosts for the BRICS summit.