Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday hosted leaders of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) emerging powers at a summit seeking to boost trade ties and help overcome the bloc’s economic woes.
Modi and the other leaders of the BRICS nations donned traditional Nehru jackets for a group photograph on Saturday night, before a closed-door dinner.
However, the leaders faced the more somber task of working to reinvigorate their bloc when talks got under way yesterday in Goa.
Photo: AFP
“We hope that when the BRICS discussion happens tomorrow [Sunday], there will be discussion on how we can increase intra-BRICS trade and cooperation. It is an important issue,” Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters.
BRICS was formed in 2011 with the aim of using its growing economic and political influence to challenge Western hegemony.
The nations, with a joint estimated GDP of US$16 trillion, set up their own bank in parallel to the Washington-based IMF and World Bank and hold summits rivaling the G7 forum.
However, the countries, accounting for 53 percent of the world’s population, have been hit by falling global demand and lower commodity prices, while several have also been mired in corruption scandals.
Russia and Brazil have fallen into recession recently, South Africa only just managed to avoid the same fate last month while China’s economy — the recent engine of world growth — has slowed sharply.
India by contrast is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy in an otherwise gloomy environment and its GDP is expected to grow 7.6 percent in 2016 to 2017.
After a flurry of bilateral meetings with BRICS leaders on Saturday, Modi is said to be seeking the group’s cooperation on enhancing trade, as well as climate change, while Russia is expecting talks on Syria.
However, Modi is also likely to be seeking discussion on regional security, including recent cross-border attacks blamed on militants in Pakistan that have spiked tensions between the neighbors.
Modi is seeking to isolate archrival Pakistan internationally following fury at home over the attacks that have left Indian soldiers dead.
Analysts are skeptical of India’s chances of securing a joint BRICS condemnation given China’s strong diplomatic support for Pakistan and Russia’s efforts to forge closer defense ties with Islamabad.
Taking place at the same time in Goa is a meeting of heads of a seven-nation grouping called the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, loosely based around the Bay of Bengal.
Burmese State Counsellor Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as the leaders of Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal, are set to hold talks focused on trade.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is not attending following the death of the nation’s king.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the