Express News Service
NEW DELHI: A few days ahead of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had a telephonic conversation with Iranian President Dr Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi.
Iran is hoping to become a member of BRICS and President Raisi is all for the summit in the South African city.
The two leaders discussed matters of bilateral and regional importance. PM Modi highlighted that the India-Iran relationship is underpinned by close historic and civilizational connections, including strong people-to-people contacts.
On Thursday, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, too spoke with Raisi discussing Iran’s membership of BRICS. Meanwhile, PM Modi and President Raisi also reiterated their commitment to further strengthen bilateral cooperation including to realise the full potential of Chabahar Port as a connectivity hub. The two leaders also discussed cooperation at multilateral forums including the expansion of BRICS and looked forward to their meeting on the margins of the forthcoming BRICS summit in South Africa, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The BRICS group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, will discuss its possible expansion at the summit in South Africa next week. PM Modi will be in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24 to attend the 15th BRICS Summit that is being hosted by South Africa. South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa had called PM Modi earlier this month to extend his invitation, following which a formal announcement was made on PM Modi’s visiting Johannesburg.
This will be the first in-person BRICS Summit since 2019. The Summit will provide an opportunity to review the progress of the initiatives launched by the grouping and identify future areas of activity. “PM Modi will participate in a special event “BRICS – Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue” being organized after the BRICS Summit, which will include other countries invited by South Africa. He will hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders,’’ says MEA. Meanwhile, after the BRICS Summit, PM Modi will head for Greece on August 25 at the invitation of his counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek PM.
