India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the BRICS Summit in Russia on 22-23 of October, as the Ministry of External Affairs said in the statement on Friday. This was made during escalating tension between India and China over the possibility of a bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi Jinping on the sideline for the summit that will be held in Kazan.
The summit also promises a bilateral meeting between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the summit. It will also be the first time that both leaders sit together and share their points of view on different issues, such as security and economic integration in the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China has also affirmed that Xi Jinping, the president of the People’s Republic of China, will attend the proposed summit headed by Russia.
People close to the diplomatic corridors have been speculating about a Modi-Xi meeting, more so in light of the ongoing negotiations to resolve the over five years of military stand-off over LAC. The tensions have strained India-China relations to their worst in the last sixty years, with New Delhi insisting that the restoration of normal relations depends on the demarcation of the two countries’ border.
Within the past several months, the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs has met numerous times. It continues to promote diplomacy and military-to-military level dialogue to address issues of the LAC. However, to date, there has not been any confirmation from the Indian or the Chinese government about a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.
This tour was convened by the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Ministry of External Affairs mentioned, while the theme for the BRICS Summit is “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”. This summit will allow leaders to respond to global issues and assess the activities of BRICS.
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