NEW DELHI : BRICS leaders including China, Russia and
India entered a second day of talks in New Delhi on Sunday, discussing “inclusive
global growth”, after reaching rare agreement calling for calm in the Middle
East, reports BSS
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for “cooperation”
within the bloc, which he has said represents “50 percent of the world’s
population, 40 percent of global GDP and more than 25 percent of global trade”.
“The power of BRICS lies in our diversity and cooperation,”
Modi told leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President
Vladimir Putin, on the final day of talks.
BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging
economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western
powers. The group is seeking to bolster its global influence and address
conflict, trade turbulence and energy security.
“We have tried to push inclusive global growth,” Modi
said.
“We may be rooted in different realities, but together we
rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity,” he said.
The first day of the summit on Saturday was dominated by
the conflict in the Middle East.
BRICS foreign ministers had failed to agree on a joint
statement in New Delhi in May, with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates divided over the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February
28.
However, leaders—who also included Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian—issued a statement after intense diplomatic efforts by host
India.
“We express deep concern over the continued escalation of
tensions in Middle East/West Asia,” the joint statement said, adding that the
BRICS countries “call for exercising maximum restraint”.
Modi maintains cordial relations with both Iran and US
ally Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in India’s ties
with Washington.
India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the
US-Iran war in part by turning to Russia, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine and
pressure from Washington and other Western capitals.
Xi’s participation in BRICS is also important because it
is his first visit to neighbouring India since 2019, and the biggest step yet
in a cautious thaw between the nuclear-armed rivals.
His visit comes six years after a deadly military clash
along the disputed Tibetan border between China and India, with ties gradually
improving through restored flights, visas and high-level contacts.
“Although our two countries are different in many
respects, they are fully capable of complementing each other’s strengths,
supporting one another, achieving mutual success and advancing together,” Xi
said as he met Modi, according to a video released by New Delhi.
The underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, and
both sides retain heavy military deployments along their roughly
3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) high-altitude border.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement after the
meeting that “the two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and
mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question”.
Deep mistrust remains, with a widening trade deficit and
strategic rivalry complicating ties.
“Both sides should... work hand-in-hand to promote
high-quality major financial cooperation, advocate an equal and sustainable
global order, and foster an economic globalisation that is open and inclusive,”
Xi said.
Xi’s visit was the target of protests by dozens of Tibetans in New Delhi, exiles like their Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing a Chinese crackdown in 1959.
