Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed that he will attend the BRICS Summit in South Africa later this month, which will bring together dignitaries from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, silencing media chatter that the leader would participate remotely due to Russian President Putin’s decision not to attend in person.
Modi confirmed his intention to participate in this year’s summit in Johannesburg in person during a phone call with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the evening on Thursday, August 3rd, the prime minister’s office said. Ramphosa, during the call, briefed Modi on the preparations for the summit and expressed interest in visiting India for the G20 summit set to take place in New Delhi this fall.
India presently holds the rotating presidency of the G20 group.
“President Ramaphosa invited PM for the BRICS Summit being hosted by South Africa on August 22-24, 2023 and briefed him on the preparations for the same. PM accepted the invitation and conveyed that he looked forward to his visit to Johannesburg to participate in the Summit,” a press release from India’s Ministry of External Affairs reads.
The Indian prime minister’s announcement comes following media speculation from the likes of Reuters and Economic Times that he might participate in the summit via video link.
The Economic Times, an Indian English-language newspaper whose main focus is business-related topics, reported that Modi was giving serious consideration to attending the summit remotely in light of “the geopolitical developments that would see Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing the summit virtually.” Reuters, a day later, made similar speculations, citing sources in New Delhi,
Several media outlets have also claimed that India and Brazil oppose the bloc’s expansion, one of the key items on the agenda of this year’s summit—a claim that New Delhi on Thursday dismissed as “baseless.”
In July, the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin would not travel to Johannesburg, but would participate in the summit remotely, adding that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would lead Russia’s delegation instead. Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin over war crime allegations—allegations which Moscow vehemently denies.
Had Putin attended the summit in person, Pretoria, a signatory to the ICC treaty, technically would have been obligated to implement the arrest warrant upon the Russian head of state’s arrival on South African territory, creating a diplomatic dilemma for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This year’s summit is likely to see expansion in the bloc’s membership, with Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s BRICS ambassador, recently telling reporters that twenty-two countries have “formally” asked to join the economic alliance, while “an equal number of countries have informally expressed interest in becoming BRICS members … [including] all the major global south countries.”
BRICS membership accounts for 40% of the world’s population, while the bloc’s total economic output—which comprised 31.59% of the world’s GDP in 2022—has now surpassed that of the G7 group’s, which at the same time stood at 30.39%, down from 50.42% in 1982.
