Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Monday to attend the 11th BRICS summit to be held on November 13 and 14 in Brasilia. He will hold a round of bilateral meetings with leaders of the BRICS member countries after reaching the capital of Brazil on Wednesday morning.
Mr. Modi is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday ahead of participating in the BRICS Business Forum. The leaders are scheduled to have a restricted session on Thursday. The visit is also significant from the bilateral India-Brazil point of view as India is expected to host Brazil President Bolsonaro as the Republic Day Parade chief guest in 2020 January.
A Russian official on Tuesday said that during the summit, BRICS will discuss formation of BRICS Bond Fund, which will help member countries conduct intra-BRICS trade in national currencies, avoiding the U.S. dollar. “Trust in the U.S. dollar is not as high as it was and why we want to extend national currencies within BRICS,” said the official.
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The summit will discuss the Afghanistan and Syria crisis. Both China and Russia have maintained dialogue with the Taliban even after the U.S. ended peace talks with the outfit. “Stable, peaceful and non-radicalised Afghanistan is the focus of Russian approach,” said the official.
The member countries will hold the plenary session of the BRICS on Thursday after which a BRICS MoU between trade and investment promotion agencies will be signed.