SCHEDULING AND ATTENDANCE
India will host the 13th BRICS summit virtually on September 9. The meeting will feature the leaders of all five BRICS member countries, including PM Narendra Modi of India, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
PRESIDENCY OF INDIA
As with its 2012 and 2016 hosting, India will be hosting the BRICS Summit a third time this year. India has already presided over over 50 meetings this year, including a virtual meeting of foreign ministers on June 1.The summit and various meetings have focused on addressing the COVID crisis, securing a TRIPS waiver for COVID 19 vaccines at the WTO with South Africa and India supporting it, and reforms in multilateral groups, including the UN Security Council.
The Indian Presidency will hold several meetings in August. There will be a meeting of national security advisors on August 24, a meeting of the heads of space agencies on August 18, and a meeting of agriculture and environment ministers on August 27. BRICS agriculture ministers debated virtually the topic “BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Security” ahead of a summit to be hosted by India next month.
Further, the BRICS Youth Summit and Digital Health Summit will be held between August 29 and 31.
BRICS countries can play a leading role in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to eradicate hunger and poverty, according to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
AGENDA OF THE MEETING
“BRICS countries have a highly developed agricultural research base, enabling them to harness and share knowledge, and facilitate the transfer of technologies from the lab to the field for better productivity solutions, especially in light of climate change and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources, according to a statement from the ministry of agriculture.
India has developed a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Agriculture Research platform to promote cooperation in agricultural research, extension, technology transfer, training, and capacity building. According to the platform, the goal is to promote research cooperation to improve the use and application of agricultural technologies to meet the needs of producers and processors.
At the 11th meeting of the BRICS, the joint declaration and the action plan for agricultural cooperation of the BRICS countries and the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform were discussed in depth. Meeting of BRICS Working Group to endorse 2021-24 Action Plan for adoption at BRICS meetings.