Noting that BRICS has adopted Counter-Terrorism Action Plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that member countries must ensure the grouping is even more result-oriented in the next 15 years.
"The BRICS platform has witnessed several achievements in the last one and a half decades. Today we are an influential voice for the emerging economies of the world. This platform has also been useful for focusing attention on the priorities of developing nations as well," Prime Minister Modi said in his opening remarks at the summit.
The Prime Minister chaired the 13th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit which was held in a virtual format. The meeting was attended by Brazil President Jair Bolsanaro, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"BRICS has created strong institutions like the New Development Bank, the Contingency Reserve Arrangement and the Energy Research Cooperation Platform. These are all very strong institutions. It is also important that we do not become too self-satisfied and we must ensure that BRICS is even more result-oriented in the next 15 years," the Prime Minister said.
He said the theme that India has selected for its tenure of chairship demonstrates exactly this priority - 'BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus'.
"These four Cs are in a way the fundamental principles of our BRICS partnership," PM Modi said.
He said this year, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, more than 150 BRICS meetings and programmes were organized, out of which more than 20 were at the ministerial level.
"Along with enhancing cooperation in traditional areas, we have also made efforts to further expand the BRICS agenda. In this context, BRICS has achieved several 'firsts' meaning there were several things that were done for the first time. Just recently the first-ever BRICS digital summit was held," the Prime Minister said.
"We have also adopted BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan. With the agreement on Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation between our space agencies a new chapter of cooperation has begun. With cooperation between our customs departments, intra- BRICS trade will become easier. There has also been a consensus with regards to starting a virtual BRICS Vaccination Research and Development Centre. BRICS Alliance on green tourism is also another new initiative," he added.
Noting that the first-ever BRICS digital summit was held recently, he said this is an innovative step to increase health access with the help of technology.
"In November, our Water Resources Ministers will be meeting for the first time under the BRICS format. It is also the first time that BRICS has taken a collective position on 'Strengthening and Reforming Multilateral Systems'," he said.
The BRICS summit saw the adoption of the "New Delhi Declaration" where the member nations underscored the priority of fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as a terrorist sanctuary.
The leaders also called for reforms of the principal organs of the United Nations including instilling new life in the discussions on the reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
( With inputs from ANI )
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