Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on October 22-23 for the 16th BRICS Summit and will hold bilateral meetings with leaders of the members of the group and other invitees, said a Ministry of External Affairs statement on Friday.
This marks PM Modi's second visit to Russia in this year.
The summit is the first since the group's expansion to nine members, with Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the UAE joining this year after being offered membership in the 2023 summit in South Africa. Argentina and Saudi Arabia were invited but the former declined after a change of government, while the latter is yet to respond.
At the invitation of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, PM Modi will visit Russia from October 22-23 to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, being held in Kazan under the chairmanship of Russia, said the MEA.
The summit has been given the theme "Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security". As defined in an official statement, it will serve as a significant occasion for leaders to address pressing global issues. Simultaneously, the Summit will represent a worthwhile opportunity to check how the initiatives launched by BRICS are progressing and what potential areas of future cooperation could be identified.
The MEA also said that the Prime Minister would have bilateral engagements with the counterparts of BRICS member countries and invited leaders during the visit to Kazan.
The Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that the Kazan BRICS summit would be attended by leaders from 24 countries and delegations of 32 nations.
Parallel to the general BRICS meeting, it plans to host sessions within the framework of BRICS+ dedicated to the topic "BRICS and the Global South: Building the Future of the World Together," with representatives from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
All the top leaders of all member countries – seven Presidents and two Prime Ministers – will participate, but not UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and heads of different aspirant countries, among whom are Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, and others.
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