AMN / Johannesburg SA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Johannesburg in South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit. On his arrival at the airport, Mr Modi was received by Deputy President of South Africa Paul Mashatile and was given a ceremonial welcome. After receiving a grand welcome, Prime Minister Modi walked towards the members of the Indian diaspora who gathered to welcome him. Mr Modi greeted and interacted with members of the Indian diaspora.
The BRICS Summit will be held in Johannesburg under the Chairmanship of South Africa from the 22nd to 24th of this month. The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Earlier, in his departure statement, the Prime Minister said Summit will provide a useful opportunity for the grouping to identify areas of cooperation and review institutional development. He said, India values that BRICS has become a platform for discussing and deliberating on issues of concern for the entire Global South, including development imperatives and reform of the multilateral system. The Prime Minister said, he is looking forward to interacting with a number of guest countries that have been invited to participate in the event. He said, he is also looking forward to hold bilateral meetings with some of the Leaders. During his stay in Johannesburg, Mr. Modi will participate in BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue event that will be held as part of the BRICS Summit activities.
The theme of 15th BRICS Summit is BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism. During the Summit the deliberations will be held to forge partnerships to effectively deal with the climate change situation, strengthen mechanisms for knowledge creation and exchange, boost trade, investment and infrastructure development between BRICS and African countries, achieve the 2030 agenda on sustainable development, and strengthen multilateralism. BRICS represent over 42 percent of the global population, 23 percent of world GDP, and 18 percent of global trade.
After his South Africa visit, the Prime Minister will travel to Athens in Greece at the invitation of Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This will be his first visit to Greece. In his departure message, the Prime Minister said, contacts between the two civilizations stretch back over two millennia. Mr Modi said, in modern times, the ties have been strengthened by shared values of democracy, rule of law and pluralism. He said, cooperation in diverse sectors such as trade and investment, defence, and cultural and people-to-people contacts have been bringing the two countries closer