India will host the eighth annual Summit of BRICS from October 15-16 in Goa in its capacity as chair of the influential bloc comprising five countries with 42 per cent of the world population and combined GDP of over USD 16 trillion.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made the announcement today during a function where she also unveiled a logo and a website of the Summit.
India assumed chairmanship of BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) from Russia on February 15 and it will last till December 31.
“I congratulate the Russian Federation for steering the BRICS process commendably that culminated with the 7th BRICS Summit in the beautiful city of Ufa in July 2015. I am happy to share that the 8th BRICS Summit will be hosted in Goa from October 15-16,” Swaraj said.
The External Affairs Minister said India’s core-theme during BRICS chairmanship will be building responsive, inclusive and collective solutions for the grouping.
The logo for the Summit is a lotus having colours from all the five member countries and a traditional ‘namaste’ in the centre.
“We will adopt a five-pronged approach during our Chairmanship. It will comprise Institution Building, Implementation, Integration, Innovation, and Continuity with Consolidation (IIIIC or I4C),” she said speaking on the occasion.
She said India’s emphasis would be on institution building, implementation of previous commitments flowing from the past Summits, and exploring synergies among the existing mechanisms.
The grouping has been pushing for greater economic growth among the member countries and reform of global financial institutions.
It has set up a the New Development Bank headquartered in Shanghai, with India’s K V Kamath at present serving as its chief.
Swaraj said during India’s chairmanship, “over 50 sectoral meetings will be organised at the ministerial, official, technical, and track II levels.”
The minister further said that enhancing “greater people-to-people participation” will be among the top priorities during the BRICS events which would be held “throughout the year across the country”.
“We have planned a series of events including — the BRICS Under-17 Football Tournament, BRICS Film Festival, BRICS Wellness Forum, BRICS Youth Forum, Young Diplomat’s Forum, BRICS Trade Fair, BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave besides the think-tank and academic forums,” she said.
“This will give people a greater opportunity to enrich the BRICS process. It would also be an occasion for our BRICS partners to visit different cities and states of India,” she added.
Amar Sinha, Secretary (Economic Relations) in MEA, said, “The ball has been set rolling after we assumed the Chairmanship…The BRICS Sherpas will meet very soon and sit together and define the action plan.
“We will look at synergy among us partners wherever we have overlapping interest and seek to consolidate that. What we also wish to do is carry forward the parliamentary forum and a special segment which will focus on women parliamentarians from all these countries.”
As far as BRICS events are concerned, “the focus would be not just Delhi and we intend to take it to at least 20 provinces”, he said.
On the New Development Bank, Swarup, on the sidelines of the event, said, “Yes, things are moving in the right direction.”
In the logo, India is represented as the central petal of the lotus in saffron colour and a pair of folded hands (’namaste’) in the centre, while two petals on each stand for the other four countries. Blue represents Russia, yellow (South Africa), Green (Brazil) and Red (China).
Unveiling the logo, Swaraj said, “Painted in BRICS country’s colors it symbolises India’s national flower, and will grace all our events through the year.”
Honouring creativity. EAM awards a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 to Sudeep Gandhi, creator of the BRICS 2016 logo pic.twitter.com/PiBnoV5tsL
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) March 22, 2016
A cash-reward of Rs. 50,000 was handed over by Swaraj to the winner of the logo contest that had received over 570 entries from across the country, MEA said.
PTI
