Agenda includes Brazil-backed plan for an alternate BRICS currency to avoid sanctions against Russia; Mr. Jaishankar likely to discuss G-20 consensus statement with Chinese, Russian FMs
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar left early on May 31 for a week-long visit to South Africa and Namibia, beginning with his attendance at the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Capetown. The FMs will finalise the agenda for the BRICS summit in August, with plans to expand the grouping and discuss a “BRICS currency”, seen as a counter to the U.S. dollar, and meant to circumvent western sanctions against Russia.
“Besides attending the meeting, [Mr. Jaishankar] will also hold a bilateral meeting with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor. He will call on the President of South Africa and is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other BRICS Foreign Ministers and participating ‘Friends of BRICS’ Ministers from other countries,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the Minister would have an “interaction” with the Indian diaspora in Capetown as well. The “Friends of BRICS” or “BRICS Plus” conference on Friday will include 15 foreign ministers from Africa and the Global South.
The importance of the meetings in South Africa can be gauged by the fact that Mr. Jaishankar left Delhi hours before Nepal Prime Minister Pushp Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” arrived for the first official visit of his tenure on Wednesday. The External Affairs Minister will not be part of the official bilateral meetings with the Nepali delegation on Thursday.
Seeking consensus
In Capetown, Mr. Jaishankar will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the conference, two days after the government announced that it would not hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit as an in-person conference as planned earlier, but via video conference instead.
Apart from discussing the modalities of the SCO summit on July 4, this will be an opportunity for the External Affairs Minister to attempt to convince his Chinese and Russian counterparts to agree to a consensus statement at this year’s G-20 summit to be held in Delhi in September. Efforts to bring them on board on a joint statement failed at both the G-20 Finance and Foreign Ministers’ meetings in India earlier this year. With the SCO now moving to a virtual format, it will be left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make similar efforts at the BRICS summit to be held in Durban on August 22 to 24, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend in person.
Seeking BRICS membership
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahaian is expected to attend the BRICS meetings as a special invitee. Iran is among more than a dozen countries that have applied for membership to the BRICS grouping of emerging economies that was founded in 2006 (the original BRIC minus South Africa began in 2001). Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt are among 19 countries who have applied formally or informally expressed their interest in joining, according to South African officials.
“BRICS is attracting a lot of interest from a number of countries, and our sherpas are working on the concept of how the group can respond to this interest. We hope that our leaders will present final guidelines at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit,” Ms. Pandor said in a speech this week, as meetings of the BRICS sherpas and sous-sherpas got underway on May 29. “The growing interest in the alliance shows that many countries are looking for a multipolar forum that is modern, inclusive and focused on the common good,” Ms. Pandor added.
BRICS currency plan
During the conference, Mr. Jaishankar is expected to stress on India’s priorities for the Global South, including mitigating the economic impact of the Ukraine war, as well as the importance of territorial sovereignty and cooperation against terrorism. As BRICS is mainly an economic engagement, all eyes will be on whether the BRICS FMs agree to move forward with the plan for a BRICS currency initiative that would propose an alternative currency based on gold, commodities and critical minerals.
While the MEA has thus far been non-committal on the proposal, Brazil’s recently re-elected President Lula da Silva backed the plan for a BRICS currency during a visit to China in April, after former Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff took over as president of the BRICS-founded New Development Bank (NDB).
“Why can’t a bank like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other BRICS countries?… Today, countries have to chase after dollars to export, when they could be exporting in their own currencies,” Mr. da Silva was quoted as saying at the NDB inauguration ceremony in Shanghai. “Who decided the dollar would be the [world’s] currency?” he added.
Jaishankar to meet Lavrov, Qin at BRICS FM meeting in South Africa
Agenda includes Brazil-backed plan for an alternate BRICS currency to avoid sanctions against Russia; Mr. Jaishankar likely to discuss G-20 consensus statement with Chinese, Russian FMs
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar left early on May 31 for a week-long visit to South Africa and Namibia, beginning with his attendance at the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Capetown. The FMs will finalise the agenda for the BRICS summit in August, with plans to expand the grouping and discuss a “BRICS currency”, seen as a counter to the U.S. dollar, and meant to circumvent western sanctions against Russia.
“Besides attending the meeting, [Mr. Jaishankar] will also hold a bilateral meeting with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor. He will call on the President of South Africa and is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other BRICS Foreign Ministers and participating ‘Friends of BRICS’ Ministers from other countries,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the Minister would have an “interaction” with the Indian diaspora in Capetown as well. The “Friends of BRICS” or “BRICS Plus” conference on Friday will include 15 foreign ministers from Africa and the Global South.
The importance of the meetings in South Africa can be gauged by the fact that Mr. Jaishankar left Delhi hours before Nepal Prime Minister Pushp Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” arrived for the first official visit of his tenure on Wednesday. The External Affairs Minister will not be part of the official bilateral meetings with the Nepali delegation on Thursday.
Seeking consensus
In Capetown, Mr. Jaishankar will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the conference, two days after the government announced that it would not hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit as an in-person conference as planned earlier, but via video conference instead.
Apart from discussing the modalities of the SCO summit on July 4, this will be an opportunity for the External Affairs Minister to attempt to convince his Chinese and Russian counterparts to agree to a consensus statement at this year’s G-20 summit to be held in Delhi in September. Efforts to bring them on board on a joint statement failed at both the G-20 Finance and Foreign Ministers’ meetings in India earlier this year. With the SCO now moving to a virtual format, it will be left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make similar efforts at the BRICS summit to be held in Durban on August 22 to 24, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend in person.
Seeking BRICS membership
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahaian is expected to attend the BRICS meetings as a special invitee. Iran is among more than a dozen countries that have applied for membership to the BRICS grouping of emerging economies that was founded in 2006 (the original BRIC minus South Africa began in 2001). Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt are among 19 countries who have applied formally or informally expressed their interest in joining, according to South African officials.
“BRICS is attracting a lot of interest from a number of countries, and our sherpas are working on the concept of how the group can respond to this interest. We hope that our leaders will present final guidelines at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit,” Ms. Pandor said in a speech this week, as meetings of the BRICS sherpas and sous-sherpas got underway on May 29. “The growing interest in the alliance shows that many countries are looking for a multipolar forum that is modern, inclusive and focused on the common good,” Ms. Pandor added.
BRICS currency plan
During the conference, Mr. Jaishankar is expected to stress on India’s priorities for the Global South, including mitigating the economic impact of the Ukraine war, as well as the importance of territorial sovereignty and cooperation against terrorism. As BRICS is mainly an economic engagement, all eyes will be on whether the BRICS FMs agree to move forward with the plan for a BRICS currency initiative that would propose an alternative currency based on gold, commodities and critical minerals.
While the MEA has thus far been non-committal on the proposal, Brazil’s recently re-elected President Lula da Silva backed the plan for a BRICS currency during a visit to China in April, after former Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff took over as president of the BRICS-founded New Development Bank (NDB).
“Why can’t a bank like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade between Brazil and China, between Brazil and other BRICS countries?… Today, countries have to chase after dollars to export, when they could be exporting in their own currencies,” Mr. da Silva was quoted as saying at the NDB inauguration ceremony in Shanghai. “Who decided the dollar would be the [world’s] currency?” he added.
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