Xi Jinping to attend Modi-hosted BRICS summit on Thursday

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 13th BRICS summit to be held on Thursday at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, China's foreign ministry announced in Beijing on Wednesday.

Modi will chair the virtual meeting of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), the ministry of external affairs said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

India is this year's chair of the BRICS.

The summit will also be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro.

President Xi will attend via video link the 13th BRICS Summit to be held on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced.

The theme of the summit would be "Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus."

India had outlined four priority areas, including reform of the multilateral system, counter-terrorism, using digital and technological tools for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and enhancing people to people exchanges.

In addition to these areas, the leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues.

The summit this year coincides with the 15th anniversary of BRICS.

BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade.

This is the second time Prime Minister Modi will be chairing the BRICS summit. Earlier, he had chaired the Goa summit in 2016.