Modi-Hasina may meet at BRICS Summit in Johannesburg

A possible meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit is expected to pave the way for inclusion of Bangladesh as new member of the grouping of five emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The 15th summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 21 to 24.  Sources in the government say that generally Sheikh Hasina does not travel abroad during the month of mourning. It is a rare occasion she has accepted the invitation to join the BRICS Summit where expansion of member country is one of the agenda. Sources also pointed out that the membership of new countries may not be announced in this summit but some positive outcome is expected.

Answering a question in last weekly briefing on Friday, Spokespersons of the External Affairs Ministry Arindam Bagchi has said," I rejected some insinuations that India was against expansion .This is simply not true and I will repeat that."  He also said the leaders had already mandated about expansion from the last BRICS Summit. “Discussions are underway at the Sherpa level certainly and otherwise on what could be this and what the criteria could be. We are approaching this with a very positive mind and a positive framework and let us see what the summit brings out in that process." Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also said in briefing that Bangladesh wants to be a part of the BRICS coalition, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

She said that a discussion in this regard was held with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Geneva (South Africa currently holds the BRICS Presidency).  A total of 69 countries have been invited to the summit in South Africa including all South African countries and expansion is expected to be high on the agenda. Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Ethiopia and others have shown interest to join the grouping. China and Russia have openly said about expansion of BRICS. Brazil is resisting the move according to a source.  China’s President Xi Jinping will attend the summit of BRICS leaders. Russian  President Vladimir Putin who faces an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine ,will take part by video rather than in person.