Agenda: Anti-Terrorism, Multilateralism, etc.,

Why in News?

PM Narendra Modi left for Brazil to attend the 11th BRICS Summit, 2019.

What was the origin of the ‘BRIC’?

• On November 30, 2001, Jim O’Neill, a British economist coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• O’Neill projected that the four BRIC economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and become among the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.
• He projected this based on the basis of econometric analyses.
• He said that the world policymaking forums should be re-organised to incorporate BRIC representatives.

When did ‘BRICS’ begin?

• BRICS brings together five economies accounting for 42% of the world’s population, 23% of the global GDP and 17% share of world trade.
• July 2006 - As a formal grouping, BRIC started after the meeting of the leaders of Russia, India and China in St Petersburg on the margins of the G8-Outreach Summit.
• September 2006 - The grouping was formalised during the 1^st meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA, New York.
• 2009 - The 1^st BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
• September 2010 - At the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting, it was agreed to expand BRIC to BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa.
• South Africa attended the 3^rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011.
• In 2018, leaders of the grouping commemorated the 10th anniversary of BRICS in Johannesburg.

What is the significance of the current BRICS Summit for India?

• As PM Modi attends the 11^th BRICS Summit in Brasilia, it will be the beginning of what India sees as the second cycle of BRICS.
• Since July 2014 in Fortaleza in Brazil, the grouping has completed the first cycle during his regime in India.
• From the Indian perspective, BRICS has emerged as the voice of developing countries, or the global south.
• As these countries face an aggressive club of developed countries, raising challenges on issues from WTO to climate change, India believes BRICS has to protect the rights of the developing countries.
• While the economic heft of three of the five countries has been dented in the last few years, the BRICS cooperation has two pillars,
  1. Consultations on issues of mutual interest through meetings of leaders and ministers, and
  2. Cooperation through meetings of senior officials in areas including trade, finance, health, education, technology, agriculture, and IT.
• India has to maintain the balancing act between Russia-China on the one side and the US on the other.
• While India has had a growing role in global affairs and is seen to be helping drive the global agenda, the current crops of BRICS leaders too are seen as strong personalities with a pronounced nationalistic agenda.
• South Block views this as a potential for cooperation, as the leaders have more in common than their predecessors.

How will the BRICS’ agenda be helpful for India?

• Terrorism - The joint working group on counter-terrorism has decided to constitute sub-working groups in five areas:
  1. Terrorist financing;
  2. Use of Internet for terrorist purposes (May be chaired by India);
  3. Countering radicalisation;
  4. The issue of foreign terrorist fighters;
  5. Capacity-building.
• During meetings of National Security Advisers of BRICS in October 2019, India’s NSA Ajit Doval put forward a proposal to host a BRICS workshop on digital forensics in India.
• Brazil has also made terrorism one of the priorities for its presidency.
• It held the first BRICS seminar on Strategies for Countering Terrorism.
• The fact that BRICS has put counter-terrorism on top of the agenda has been a success for India.
• That was evident in the BRICS Summit in Xiamen (2017), with China as the chair, despite the strained ties due to the Doklam standoff.
• It was a testimony to the value Beijing and New Delhi attach to the outcomes of the grouping.
• Multilateralism – PM Modi has articulated a vision for strengthening and reforming the multilateral system itself.
• He has underlined that when India calls for multilateralism, it is not a call to reinforce the status quo of multilateralism but to reform it since this is what BRICS had originally set out to do.
• Leaders will attend a BRICS-restricted session, expected to focus on challenges and opportunities for the exercise of national sovereignty in the contemporary world.

What is the plan of this Summit?

• In the Plenary Session - Leaders will discuss cooperation for economic development of BRICS societies.
• A meeting of BRICS leaders with BRICS Business Council will take place, and BRICS MoU among Trade and Investment Promotion agencies will be signed.
• On the conclusion - Summit leaders will issue a joint declaration.
• The Summit will be an opportunity for India to lay the groundwork for hosting the 2021 Summit scheduled in India.
• The last Summit took place in Goa in 2016.
• India will be mindful of the fact that the G20 Summit to be hosted in India will take place in 2022, and this will be an opportunity to synergise the two agendas from New Delhi’s lens as well.

Source: The Indian Express

Quick Facts

Plenary session

• It is a session of a conference which all members of all parties are to attend.
• Such a session may include a broad range of content and is not necessarily related to a specific style of presentation or deliberative process.