New Delhi (NVI): ‘Global stability’, ‘shared security’ and ‘innovative growth’ will be the central theme of the sixth BRICS Parliamentary Forum, to be held under the Russian chairmanship this year, via video conference on November 17.
According to the Chairman of the State Duma (Lower House) of the Russian Federation Viacheslav Volodin, who will chair the Forum, “Russia will propose to discuss with the colleagues, members of the parliaments of the BRICS countries, issues of strengthening of the key international institutions such as the UN and the World Health Organization. Issues of building a system of international relations on the principles of mutual respect and respect for sovereignty will be also discussed at the meeting.”
The Forum participants also plan to discuss issues of improving the standards and quality of life of citizens of the BRICS countries, preparing legislative initiatives to improve the health care systems, issues of social protection and economic recovery in the pandemic conditions, as well as the further development of parliamentary cooperation within the BRICS. The heads of the BRICS parliamentary delegations (Russia, Brazil, India, China, South Africa) will address the Forum participants.
The outcome statement is also planned to be adopted at the end of the meeting, as per an official release.
Interestingly, this year, the BRICS summit is taking place amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the India-China face-off in Ladakh. That means PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be face-to-face at the virtual summit scheduled to take place next month.
This comes when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have participated in meetings with their Chinese counterparts in Moscow this year.
PM Modi and Xi Jinping are going to be interacting virtually at the BRICS summit on November 17.
The BRICS summit was earlier scheduled for July along with the meeting of Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) in July in St Petersburg, but due to the global pandemic, that meeting had to be postponed.
It is pertinent to mention here that Russia has played a vital role in facilitating meetings between defence ministers of India and China both on the sidelines of SCO meeting and S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow.
-ARK
