PM Calls His Role in UFA 7th B R I C S Summit 10 Kadam Aagee( 10 Steps Ahead)
By TN Ashok / Diplomatic Editor
Ufa, Russia, July 10 : India will chair the 8th B R I C S from Feb 16 to Dec 16 for 11 months during which it has lined up several important initiatives ranging from research in Railways to cooperation in finance and a major combined thrust of BRICS nations in the digital world besides a BRICS fair and a sports tournament.
“ Prime Minister Narenndra Modi in his iintervention in the Restricted Session of the UFA BRICS summit had characterised his speech in the plenary as Dus Kadam (ten steps), Secretary (ER) in the Ministry of External Affairs Sujata Mehta told newsmen in a briefing on the sidelines of the just ended BRICS summit here.
“ There are ten specific proposals that are made. I would like to place these within the context of the fact that India will chair BRICS from February 2016 to December 2016. From 2017 onwards, the calendar of BRICS is going to match the annual calendar. So, India will chair the BRICS for 11 months, and it will be our intention to carry forward these initiatives and announcements that were made by the Prime Minister during our time, Ms Meht said. .
Ms Mehta said that the first announcement was that we should have an annual BRICS trade fair, and our intention is that the first of these will be during India’s chairmanship, so, during 2016. “ In addition to that we will try to concretise the other announcements: the Railway Research Centre, cooperation among supreme audit institutions, a BRICS digital initiative, the BRICS Agricultural Research Centre, a state and local governments forum, cooperation among cities, a BRICS Sports Council, and an annual BRICS Sports Meet.
“I believe I said this in Delhi and I am going to repeat it again that the intention is that there will be a BRICS Under-17 Football Tournament during India’s term as Chair”, she said briefing the press where
the Official Spokesperson Vikas Swarup, the Indian Ambassador to Russia P.S. Raghavan, and JS (MER) Charanjeet Singh were all present.
. .
Ms Mehta said that there was an announcement that the first major project of the New Development Bank should be in the field of clean energy, and a BRICS Film Festival. That is about the events that are proposed and the initiatives that are proposed.
Secretary (ER) taking the media through the documents that were signed listed the UFA Declaration as topping them. This 77 para declaration covers a variety of subjects with a good paragraph on cooperation in the United Nations, specifically in regard to reform of the UN Security Council. “ We believe that this is a good paragraph which reflects the aspiration of three BRICS members to become permanent members of the Security Council and a recognition of that by the two BRICS members who are already members of the Security Council.”
Ms Mehta further pointed out that there was a substantial paragraph or set of paragraphs on the subject of cooperation against terrorism. “ We believe that the formulations contained in this reflect some of our interests and reflect the importance that we in India attach to cooperation among BRICS members on this field. There is a reflection of cooperation among BRICS members in the efforts against the drugs problem.”
Ms Mehta said “ We have several paragraphs relating to cooperation in the ICT area. I highlight this because this is a subject which each of the BRICS leaders spoke to at some length both in their restricted remarks as also in the plenary.”
“ There is a reflection in this declaration on the importance of IMF reform and reform of the World Bank governance structure”, Ms Mehta pointed out saying that this again is a topic that each of the leaders touched upon in all the remarks that they made today. “There is a reference to cooperation in WTO. There is a good reflection of cooperation on the subject of climate change. This too is something that all the leaders spoke about and which is reflected in the declaration.”
Along with the Ufa Declaration , the BRICS Summit also released a document on “ Strategy for Economic Cooperation” .” I believe I described it at some length when we met last time prior to the summit. That declaration has been confirmed and issued. There is also an Ufa Action Plan which is issued which confirms the events which are being arranged as part of BRICS during the Russian Presidency, and other initiatives which Russia has taken in this format.”.
Following are some questions that were put to MEA officials at the UFA summit with their answers:
Question: …(Inaudible)…(apparently wanted a list of the Eurasian members in the SCO)
Indian Ambassador to Russia: I can read out the names of the countries. The countries are: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan and Turkmenistan. It contains the SCO members, it contains the observers of the SCO, but it also contains others in the Eurasian space.
Secretary (ER) (Ms. Sujata Mehta): Good evening. Let me take you through some of what has happened today.
There were three sets of engagements. There was a meeting that the leaders of the BRICS delegations had with the Business Council which comprises five senior business persons from each of the BRICS member countries. So, there was a meeting that the leaders had with the members of the Business Council.
After that, there was a restricted session in which the leaders discussed the items on the agenda which had been set for the restricted meeting. They all spoke, each one made a statement about seven to ten minutes. The conversations between the leaders continued through lunch, and that was followed by the public session in which the extended delegations joined the leaders. That was I believe telecast as well and so some of you may have seen that.
Finally we had the signing ceremony at which three documents were signed, and the documents that emanated from this summit were released. So, that is the structure of the day.
Vikas has actually put out a compilation of some of the proposals that the That is basically a summary of what has happened today. I will be happy to take questions.
Question: In one of his addresses Prime Minister Modi made a very telling remark that unilateral sanctions only end up hurting the global economy. Could you elaborate a little bit on that? In what context did he make the remark, especially because this came just after his meeting with the Iranian President Rouhani?
Secretary (ER): Let me say that there are references in the Declaration itself to the respect that all members of BRICS have for international law and for the United Nations as the embodiment of international law. It is India’s position that sanctions of any nature must be sanctions which are approved by the UN Security Council, and sanctions which are not approved by the UN Security Council are not sanctions that we adhere to or accept. That is the broad framework within which I think you should look at these remarks.
Question: Given the context of the economic cooperation agreement and the focus on economic issues at the BRICS, did the crisis in Greece at all come up because all the five countries are major economies?
Secretary (ER): I will tell you what came up. I do not think there was any specific reference to the particular situation of any one country. I think there was a common thread that ran through all the speeches and that was that the global economy at this stage is in a rather fragile state. So, I think all the leaders underlined the fact that there needs to be collective action that needs to be taken to ensure that economic recovery is not imperilled in any way and that all concerned, that that all those who are stakeholders in the global economy, which means everyone, needs to make sure that their actions do not cause any sort of negative reactions. I think all the leaders highlighted the fact that the global economy is fragile and that everyone needs to take action to ensure that the growth path is not in any way disturbed or disrupted.
Question: Coming back to the unilateral sanctions bit, does it have a specific reference in context keeping in mind the sanctions are on against Russia or Iran or was it just a broad-based generic statement?
Secretary (ER): As I said, this has to be seen in the context of the overall thrust of even the Ufa Declaration that the importance of everyone abiding by international law and the international law being embodied in the United Nations and that being the source of all action. That I think is where you should try to locate these remarks of the Prime Minister.
Official Spokesperson: If there are no other questions, we will call this press conference to a close. Tomorrow, as you know, there will be a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Immediately after that we are trying to arrange a briefing for you all on the outcomes of that. The meeting with Rouhani will also be I think briefed on by FS during that meeting. It will be here in the conference hall.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Official Spokesperson: With Iran, I can just tell you this. We discussed connectivity, cooperation in hydrocarbons – oil, gas, everything – trade and investment, and the threat of terrorism.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Official Spokesperson: These are longstanding invitations in any case on both sides.
Question: …(Inaudible)…
Official Spokesperson: Yes, certainly. Prime Minister said he looks forward to visiting Iran.