Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a tough task in improving India’s image as defender of the interests of Global South at the coming meeting of the BRICS at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on July 6 and 7 which he will be attending. The 17th BRICS summit will be hosted by Brazil and the focus is on the theme ‘Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”. Apart from this broad theme, the discussions will relate to global fight against terrorism and the Israeli genocide in Gaza which has been strongly condemned by most members of the BRICS,
Initially comprised of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa, the recently expanded alliance now also includes Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the coming summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending. That way, Indian Prime Minister will be one of the most prominent leaders attending the summit apart from the presidents of South Africa and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula.
The Brazilian Presidency will focus on two priorities: the Global South Cooperation; and BRICS Partnerships for Social, Economic, and Environmental Development. Brazil also proposes to focus on six core areas global health cooperation, trade, investment and finance, climate change, artificial intelligence governance, multilateral peace and security architecture and institutional development.
For India, especially the Prime Minister, the most important thing at the summit is to persuade the BRICS members to appreciate the Indian view on terror and the country’s assessment of Pakistan’s role. Pakistan is not a member of BRICS and the Chinese President’s towering presence will not be there at the summit. So, Narendra Modi can do some proper spadework to remove the perception as victim that Pakistan has been able to create among the global south nations.
At the recent conference of defence ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in China, India faced embarrassment as there was no reference to Pahalgam in the joint declaration while Balochistan was mentioned as a case of terror action. Out of ten SCO members, nine including China, Russia and Pakistan supported that declaration ignoring India. Though India did not sign that and it could not be issued, the isolation of India at the SCO meet revealed the failure of India’s diplomatic efforts overseas since the Operation Sindoor which ended on May 10 in a ceasefire.
Though the Indian external ministry officials have pointed out that the BRICS declaration in Brazil summit will reflect India’s position on terror, this can not be taken as granted as Chinese senior minister still will be attending the meeting and most of the BRICS members do not subscribe to the Modi’s three point near normal theory. Indian officials have to do a lot of spadework to ensure that this time in Brazil, no such embarrassment takes place as happened during SCO defence ministers meet in China last month. The declaration will be monitored by the host-the Brazilian president Lula. So a personal intervention by Narendra Modi with President Lula is needed to make the joint declaration incorporate the views of India on terror.
The reality is that Narendra Modi has lost his personal image as a fighter for global south in the eyes of the BRICS members. In the last three years, the isolation of India from the common causes of global south has intensified with the Indian Prime Minister taking more interest in QUAD as against BRICS, SCO and even G-20. The QUAD foreign ministers are meeting on Tuesday July 1 in Washington being attended by the Indian external affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankar. This will be followed by QUAD summit later this year, possibly in New Delhi. If that happens, President Trump will be attending. Both PMO and the external affairs ministry will be too busy working for the success of this meeting.
This July meeting of BRICS is of crucial significance to the Indian Prime Minister as India will take over the next presidency of BRICS meaning that the 18th BRICS summit will be held in India. India’s deep involvement in this summit and sharing of the interests of the global south will create confidence among the BRICS members as also the associates that India can be trusted to be among the major leaders of global south. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a golden opportunity this time to identify with the common interests of global south while taking care of the issues of India’s specific interest.
Prime Minister is also visiting Brazil on an official visit after the summit at the invitation of the Brazilian President Lula. This should help in further consolidating the political and economic relations between the two large economies. There are vast untapped opportunities of collaboration between the two countries. Agreements are likely to be signed in the areas of agriculture, renewable energy and defence cooperation. India and Brazil can collaborate in the application of artificial intelligence where India has a dominant role. Narendra Modi has to impart a new dynamism to the India-Brazil economic relations through this official visit. (IPA Service)
