Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have bilaterals with the leaders of BRICS (Brazil-Russia- India-China-South Africa) countries on the sidelines of their Summit in Durban next week where the impetus would be on strengthening partnership and boosting cooperation.
It will be first time, Singh will meet China’s new President Xi Jinping, who took over from Hu Jintao last week.The Prime Minister will lead a high-profile delegation, including Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, to the 5th Summit of BRICS, an economic bloc representing five of the world’s leading emerging economies.
The Durban Summit will be the first for Russian President Vladmir Putin. He had attended the BRICS leaders’ meeting chaired by Prime Minister Singh in Mexico on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in June 2012.
During his four-day visit starting March 25, Singh will also meet with Heads of State of various African countries who are also expected to gather in Durban.
India will handover the Chairmanship of BRICS to South Africa which would be hosting the Summit, whose theme is ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation’. PTI