BRICS

The Foreign Office has not issued any statement on this matter, indicating that Jamali's revelation likely occurred with the necessary approval, as reported by The News.

“As for BRICS, at the time of the summit in Johannesburg [in August], the ratio of the economies of the G7 countries and the BRICS countries was already in favor of BRICS in terms of purchasing power parity,” Putin said.

It is also discouraging to see countries that had been long-standing US partners, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, cozy up to Beijing. BRICS seems to be positioning itself as a new axis of authoritarians in contrast to the G-7 club of democracies. Of the potential new members, only Argentina is rated as free, according to Freedom House, Kroneig said.

A pending request for a bilateral meeting was there from the Chinese side, government sources said.

The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade and investment, connectivity, energy and counter-terrorism. Both sides agreed to fast-track infrastructure cooperation, including the Chabahar project. The leaders also exchanged views on regional developments, including Afghanistan.

The grouping also called for Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to continue implementing the recommendations which should be voluntary within MDBs governance frameworks, from the G20 Independent Review Report on MDBs Capital Adequacy Frameworks to increase their lending capacities, while safeguarding MDBs long-term financial stability, robust creditor rating, and preferred creditor status.

Speaking at the BRICS summit, Modi said he was confident that "we would be able to give new dynamism to BRICS by working with new member countries of the grouping".