BRICS Foreign Ministers hold virtual meeting

BRICS foreign ministers meeting was hold virtually on June 1, 2021.

Agenda of the meeting

• During the minister’s meet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted significant principles which were guiding BRICS.
• He also referred to international law and UN Charter which recognises sovereign equality of all states and respects territorial integrity.
• According to him, desired change can be achieved only by conducting policies in line with these principles.

Who hosted the meeting?

BRICS meeting was hosted by India in its capacity as chair of BRICS. It was attended by Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi; Minister of International Relations of South Africa, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor; and Foreign Minister of Brazil, Carlos Alberto Franco.

Significance of meeting

BRICS foreign ministers, for the first time, have agreed on common goal of “reforming the multilateral system”. They also agreed, such reform should cover all key multilateral institutions, including-

• UN and its principal organs such as UN general assembly, UN Security Council etc.
• International financial architecture such as IMF & World Bank
• Multilateral trading system such as WTO & UNCTAD and
• Global health governance system along with WHO.

BRICS ministers agreed to bring in new life on discussions regarding reform of UN Security Council.

Key deliverables by India

India put forward four key deliverables including, reform of multilateral system, use of digital and technological solutions to achieve SDGs, counter-terrorism cooperation and enhancing people-to-people cooperation apart from BRICS cooperation on COVID-19 pandemic.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2021