The Prime Minister said that the theme of the Summit- Economic Growth for and Innovative Future is very accurate. He said, innovation has become the basis of development. Therefore, it is necessary that member nations strengthen cooperation in the field.
Raising the issue of terrorism, the Prime Minister said that the menace has resulted in the loss of one trillion dollars to the world economy. He said terrorism is the biggest threat to development, peace and prosperity.
PM Modi said sustainable water management and sanitation are important challenges in the urban areas. So, he proposed to hold the first meeting of BRICS water ministers in India.
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa today opened the 11th BRICS Summit where deliberations are taking place on key areas such as trade, investment and counter-terrorism. Prime Minister spoke on wide-ranging subjects and made very innovative proposals at the session. He said that we need to make BRICS mechanism outcome-driven and efficient. PM Modi expressed satisfaction that MOU between trade promotion agencies of BRICS will help to achieve the target of 500 billion intra-BRICS trade target.
The Prime Minister proposed to sign an MoU for mutual acceptance of health standards of BRICS countries. He mentioned about India’s programme of Fit India. He also proposed for a BRICS Youth Summit to promote start-ups and Hackathons. PM Modi expressed happiness that BRICS efforts towards reformed multilateralism will find a mention in the joint statement.