Kazan

Noting that the BRICS Summit is taking place at a time when the world is surrounded by many challenges like wars, conflicts, economic uncertainty, and climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday said that as a "diverse and inclusive platform", the grouping can play a positive role on all issues.

Addressing the Closed Plenary Session of the 16th BRICS Summit, PM Modi said the approach of the group should be people-centric.

"Our meeting is taking place at a time when the world is surrounded by many challenges like wars, conflicts, economic uncertainty, climate change, terrorism. There is talk of the North-South and East-West divide in the world...And, in the age of technology, new challenges like cyber security, and deepfake, disinformation have emerged. In such a situation, there are many expectations from BRICS. I believe that as a diverse and inclusive platform, BRICS can play a positive role in all issues. In this context, our approach should remain people-centric. We should give the message to the world that BRICS is not a divisive but a public interest group," he said.

PM Modi attends the Plenary Session of the BRICS Summit

"We support dialogue and diplomacy, not war. And, just as we together defeated a challenge like COVID-19, in the same way, we are fully capable of creating new opportunities for a safe, strong, and prosperous future for the future generation...Similarly, we should work for global regulations for cyber security, safe and secure AI," he added.

The Prime Minister said all BRICS countries should cooperate strongly to deal with terrorism.

"We all have to be united and cooperate strongly to deal with terrorism and terror financing. There is no place for double standards on such a serious issue. We should take active steps to prevent radicalization among the youth of our countries. We have to work together on the pending issue of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN," he said.

"India is ready to welcome new countries as BRICS Partner Country. All decisions in this regard should be made unanimously and the views of the founding members of BRICS should be respected. The guiding principles, standards, criteria, and procedures that we adopted at the Johannesburg Summit should be followed by all member and partner countries," he said.

The Prime Minister pitched for reforms of global institutions like the UN Security Council.

...We should move forward in a timely manner for reforms in global institutions like the UN Security Council, Multilateral Development Banks, and WTO. While taking forward the efforts of BRICS, we should keep in mind that the image of this organisation should not be such that we do not want to reform global institutions but want to replace them," he added.

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The 16th BRICS Summit is taking place in Kazan.