New Delhi, June 30 (UNI) With India set to hold the chair of BRICS next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for the 17th BRICS Summit, holds even more significance.

The BRICS Summit is taking place on July 6 and 7. Prime Minister Modi will arrive in Brazil the July 5 evening, to attend the main programme, which is on July 6.

The theme of the Rio Summit is Strengthening Global South Cooperation for Inclusive and Sustainable Governance. The program on July 6 includes the first agenda item, the Reform of the Global Governance, where only the full BRICS members will participate. And thereafter, there is the second item on the agenda, the Peace and Security, in a working lunch format, where the leaders will discuss the agenda item. Leaders' statements will be issued later.

The BRICS has 10 full members and 12 partner countries, as well as eight invited countries at the Head of State, Government level, and seven heads of regional and multilateral bodies.

Post-lunch, the third item on the agenda is the Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic Financial Affairs, and Artificial Intelligence. Later there will be an official reception and all the leaders will be participating.

On July 7, the fourth item of the agenda is environment, COP30, and Global Health. Brazil will also be hosting COP30 in November this year.

“As you know, the BRICS process is led by the Chair and they set the agenda, but the decisions are in a consensus-based format. We are hopeful that there will be four deliverables, although discussions are continuing still at the Sherpa and the Sous-Sherpa level.

“The leaders' declaration, the leaders' statement on global governance and artificial intelligence, the leaders' framework declaration on climate finance, and BRICS partnership for elimination of socially determined diseases,” said Secretary ER Dammu Ravi, at a briefing today.“There will also be in addition four reports that will be submitted to the leaders. One, the deliberations that happen during the National Security Advisors level, the Business Council meetings that would have happened before that, the Women's Business Alliance report, and the civil council report,” he added.

On the bilateral front, Prime Minister Modi during the state visit to Brasilia on July 8, is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with President Lula. He will be accorded a ceremonial welcome on arrival, followed by a restricted meeting and a delegation-level format talks, culminating with a lunch hosted by President Lula for Prime Minister Modi.Prime Minister has earlier visited Brazil on three occasions, the first in July 2014, followed by another visit in 2019 to attend the BRICS summit, and in November last year to attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

“The state visit will provide an opportunity to review the entire gamut of our partnership, including trade and investments, oil and gas, renewable energy, mining and critical minerals, defense and security, agriculture and livestock, healthcare and traditional medicine, tourism, space, science and technology, DPI, and also sports and people-to-people relations in general. Both leaders will also be discussing during their talks global issues of mutual interest,” said Secretary East P Kumaran.“The visit will be a significant milestone in the India-Brazil strategic partnership and is envisaged to add renewed momentum to the strategic partnership, which we agreed to in 2006. On the trade front, India's trade with Brazil is the largest compared to any other country in Latin America. It had reached 16.6 billion in 2022-23, and following the drop in oil and gas prices, it is now around 12.2 billion, with India enjoying a trade surplus as we export goods worth $6.7 billion to Brazil and import goods worth $5.4 billion. Both leaders have set a bilateral trade target of 20 billion during their last meeting in November 2024.During their forthcoming meeting in Brasilia, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to strengthen and diversify bilateral trade, including through expansion of the India-MERCOSUR PTA, as Brazil will be holding the Chairship of MERCOSUR from 1st July 2025,” he added.

“We are looking at a few important bilateral MOUs and agreements, especially in renewable energy, agricultural research, and security cooperation,” he said.

UNI RN