Brics must avoid being an anti-West group as it grows, says PM Modi

Comments underscore PM Modi's challenge in trying to balance ties with Russia, which India relies on for cheap oil, and US, which is providing access to cutting-edge technology for manufacturing

By Sudhi Ranjan Sen

  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Brics shouldn’t project itself as an alternative to global organizations, even as founding members like Russia and China try to expand the group to challenge the US-led global order.   

“We must be careful to ensure that this organization does not acquire the image of one that is trying to replace global institutions,” Modi said at closed plenary session of the Brics leaders’ summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday. The group should work to reform institutions like the United Nations Security Council and multilateral lenders, he said.

 

The comments underscore Modi’s challenge in trying to balance ties with Russia, which India relies on for cheap oil, and the US, which is providing access to cutting-edge technology to ramp up manufacturing and add jobs in the South Asian nation. China and India are also on a path to normalizing relations after a four-year border standoff, with Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding their first bilateral talks in two years on Wednesday. 

 

Russia is this week hosting the first summit since Brics — comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — expanded to nine members with the addition of the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday the larger group represents a “multipolar world” that was more representative of the international community.

 

Modi said that as Brics evolves, it should set an “example to the world” by uniting in calls to reform global organizations. “We have to give the world the message that Brics is not a divisive organization but one that works in the interest of humanity,” he added.

 

As other nations line up to seek membership of Brics, Modi signaled willingness for them to join as “partner countries” rather than full members.  

 

Separately, the Kazan declaration from the Brics leaders summit prominently mentioned its concerns over the unfolding conflict in the Middle East.

 

The member countries reiterated their “grave concern” over the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, citing the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank because of the “Israeli military offensive.” That’s led to “mass killing and injury of civilians, forced displacement and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure,” according to the declaration.