New Delhi: India on Friday announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next week on October 22-23 at the “invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the 16th BRICS summit, being held in Kazan, under the chairmanship of Russia”.
On Friday, China too announced that President Xi Jinping would attend the Kazan summit, which means that Modi would be face-to-face with President Xi at the grouping’s deliberations. During his visit, Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with some of his counterparts from BRICS member countries and other invited leaders in Kazan. It remains to be seen if there is a structured bilateral meeting or even an informal pull-aside meeting between Modi and Xi. This will also be Modi’s second visit to Russia this year, with the first one having taken place in July this year as a bilateral visit.
It may be noted that India’s ties with China are yet to return to normal after Chinese troops amassed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector four years ago in violation of bilateral border pacts, leading to the horrific clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in mid-June 2020, in which troops on both sides were killed. Even till date, the Chinese troops have refused to pull back from some of the friction points at the LAC in the Ladakh sector.
The summit, themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”, will provide an important platform for leaders to discuss key global issues, New Delhi said, adding that “the summit will offer a valuable opportunity to assess the progress of initiatives launched by BRICS and to identify potential areas for future collaboration”.
