Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday raised the issue of terrorism at the BRICS Summit. Addressing the summit virtually, PM Modi said that it is important that the countries supporting terrorism are held accountable

“Terrorism is the biggest problem facing the world today. We have to ensure that the countries that support and assist the terrorists are held accountable, and this problem is tackled in an organised manner,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his speech.

PM Modi congratulated Russia for the finalisation of the BRICS counter-terrorism strategy under its leadership and promised that India will take forward the matter during its leadership next year.

Self-Reliant India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted his government’s flagship Atmanirbhar Bharat or Self-Reliant India campaign on the BRICS platform. The PM said that the campaign will instill a comprehensive reform process, which can help India become a strong contributor to the global value chains in the post-Covid era.

“We have started a comprehensive reform process under the ‘Self-reliant India’ campaign. The campaign is based on the belief that a self-reliant and resilient India post-Covid can be a force multiplier for the global economy and make a strong contribution to the global value chains,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi calls for UN reform

During his address, PM Modi stressed on the need for urgent reforms in the United Nations to ensure that the organisation remains relevant.

PM Modi said that being a founding nation of the United Nations, India has always upheld its values of multilateralism, “but the organization has not kept up with the changing times”.

The Prime Minister said that there was a need to reform UN Security Council as well as organisations like IMF, WTO, etc.

India to chair BRICS next year

BRICS is an international forum comprising of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The five nations meet annually to discuss and cooperate on political, social and economic issues. Russia is currently hosting the 12th BRICS Summit, which was originally scheduled to be held in July but was postponed due to Covid-related restrictions. The summit was held on Tuesday virtually. India will host the summit next year.

During his address on Tuesday, PM Modi said that during the chairmanship in 2021, India will try to strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation in all the three pillars of BRICS.

He also offered to commission a report to evaluate the various decisions taken between BRICS nations in the past years to commemorate 15 years of the international forum.