BRICS Foreign ministers to attend COVID-19 meeting

The foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping are to discuss on measures to combat COVID-19. External Affairs Minister Shri S Jaishankar is to represent India at the meet.

Highlights

The video conference is to be hosted by Russia as it is the current rotating head. The ministers are to discuss possible joint measures to fight against the highly contagious, fast spreading and dangerous COVID-19.

BRICS

BRICS was established in 2009 and is the acronym of the members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. All the five BRICS members are the members of G20.

BRICS representations

The five members of the BRICS grouping contribute to 41% of the world population. The combined GDP of the five countries as of 2018 was 18.6 trillion USD.

Why is BRICS important for India?

There is a huge tug of war between the super powers US and China-Russia. India is stuck in the middle between the super powers. The BRICS platform is a good opportunity for India to balance its relations between these super powers

BRICS has recently become the voice of developing countries. This is mainly because the western countries are increasing their challenges on the issues starting from World Trade Organization till Climate change.

India is pursuing to get membership at the UNSC (United Nations Security Council). In order to achieve this, China is the major roadblock to India. Thus, BRICS acts as an opportunity to engage with China and resolve the disputes.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020