India on Thursday outlined its priority at the BRICS summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the forum adopted a counter-terrorism plan. Russia specifically brought in Afghanistan issue saying the situation there is “a threat to peace” and should not become “a threat to its neighbouring countries, a source of terrorism and drug trafficking.”
Participating in the 13th BRICS summit chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose not to mention Afghanistan in his remarks.
Barring Russia, none of the attending top leaders mentioned the alarming situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover with an active support of Pakistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Afghan crisis is “a threat to peace”.
A statement released later by Ministry of External Affairs titled “XIII BRICS Summit: New Delhi Declaration”, said, “We call for refraining from violence and settling the situation by peaceful means. We stress the need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in the country.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks near the Hamid Karzai Kabul International Airport that resulted in a large number of deaths and injuries. We underscore the priority of fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as terrorist sanctuary and to carry out attacks against other countries, as well as drug trade within Afghanistan”, said the statement.
Brazilean President Jair Bolsanaro, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa too attended the meeting.
The declaration further said, “We emphasise the need to address the humanitarian situation and to uphold human rights, including those of women, children and minorities.”
In his welcome address, Modi said in the last 15 years, BRICS have many achievements and spoke of adoption of BRICS counter-terrorism plan.
“It is a matter of great pleasure for me and India to chair this summit for the 15th anniversary of the summit. India has received full cooperation from all BRICS partners during its chairmanship. I am deeply grateful to all of you for this. The BRICS platform has witnessed several achievements in one and half decades,” he said.
“Today we are an influential voice for emerging economies of the world. This platform has also been useful for focussing attention on the priories of the developing nations as well,” he said.
Thanking the partners for full cooperation during India’s presidency, Modi said BRICS has also adopted a counter-terrorism action plan.
In his Afghanistan-focussed address Putin said it is still unclear how what is happening in Afghanistan will affect global and regional security.
“The withdrawal of the US forces and its allies from Afghanistan has led to a new crisis, and it’s still unclear how this will affect global and regional security. It is for good reason that our countries have paid special attention to this issue.
“Afghanistan should not become a threat to its neighbouring countries, a source of terrorism and drug trafficking,” Putin said.
Chinese President said the five countries of the grouping -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa -- have supported multilateralism and taken part in global governance in the spirit of equity justice and mutual assistance.
“Over the past 15 years, our five countries have enhanced strategic communication and political trust in the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and equality and explored a sound path to interact with each other. Our five countries have sought synergy between our development policies and drawn on our complementarities. We have made solid progress in various areas of cooperation in the spirit of pragmatism, innovation. And we have forged ahead on our common journey of development,” said Jinping
While South African President said despite Covid19 situation solidarity among nations showed “what can be achieved” by coming together, Brazilian President mentioned of his Indian visit for improving bilateral relations.
The theme for the Summit was “BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus”.
This is the second time Prime Minister Modi has chaired the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit. Earlier, he had chaired the Goa Summit in 2016.
BRICS is a forum for economic and political co-operation founded 15 years ago and has, currently, five members --Brazil, Russia, India, China and the South Africa.