India begins BRICS 2021 chairship with 3-day-long Sherpas' meeting; China extends support

India kicked off its BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Chairship with the inaugural three-day-long Sherpas' meeting, said Anurag Srivastava, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson on Wednesday. Taking to Twitter he wrote that India looks forward to continuing productive discussions with BRICS partners over the next two days.

According to the MEA release, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar launched India’s BRICS 2021 website at the BRICS Secretariat at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan on February 19.

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China President Xi Jinping may visit India for BRICS summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India later this year, extending the support to India in hosting this year's summit. Speaking about Xi's possible attendance at the summit and whether the LAC standoff would affect both countries multilateral cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said BRICS had become an influential grouping and Beijing supported New Delhi’s efforts as host. 

“China attaches great importance to the BRICS mechanism,” Wang said at a regular press conference on Monday. “The Chinese side supports the Indian side in hosting the meeting and is willing to work with India and other BRICS countries in expanding cooperation on economy, politics and people-to-people exchanges,” Wang was quoted as saying by ANI. 

Wenbin’s statement comes a day after India and China 'positively appraised' the smooth completion of disengagement of frontline troops in the Pangong Lake area and agreed to continue their communication and push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector. According to the India-China Joint Statement, the two sides had a “candid and in-depth” exchange of views on other issues along the LAC in the Western Sector.

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China Backs India on hosting BRICS 2021

On Monday, China stated that they support India for hosting the BRICS Summit 2021 and expressed interest in working with New Delhi to strengthen the cooperation among the five-member group of emerging economies of which both China and India are critical members. India assumed the BRICS chairmanship for 2021. The grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and India is going to hold this year's summit.

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MEA Jaishankar launches BRICS 2021 website

On February 19, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had launched a website for BRICS, a bloc that represents over 3.6 billion people, nearly half the world’s population. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Jaishankar had announced, “Glad to have launched the #BRICS2021 website. Will provide a comprehensive snapshot of our strong BRICS engagement and the exhaustive calendar of events during BRICS at 15 under the Chairmanship of India.”

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Reform of 'multilateral system'

MEA added, that this year, the priorities for BRICS will include reform of the multilateral system, counter-terrorism cooperation, technological and digital solutions for sustainable development goals, and enhancing people-to-people cooperation. The website, which is now LIVE, displays updated and dynamic information and useful links related to the pillars of BRICS, calendar of events, documents, and images from the previous meetings. The 13th BRICS Summit will be held under India’s Chairship in 2021, and it will be the third time India will host the BRICS Summit after 2012 and 2016. The theme for India’s Chairship for 2021 would be ‘BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus’. 

(With ANI Inputs)