00:00 How to use the BRICS platform for global solutions?
00:13 That's one of the questions discussed at the BRICS Summit in South Africa so far.
00:19 BRICS leaders also discussed recent global developments.
00:23 This is the first in-person BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings
00:27 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:30 The BRICS blog, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, brings together
00:36 five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 40% of the global
00:40 population, 24% of the global GDP and 16% of the global trade.
00:46 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shared some pictures with other BRICS leaders on PlatformX.
00:51 PM Modi held a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines
00:56 of the BRICS Summit.
00:57 External Affairs Minister S.J. Shankar, NSERG Oval and Foreign Secretary Vinayak Bantra
01:04 were also present at the meeting.
01:06 The two leaders discussed trade, defence and investment.
01:12 On Tuesday, the PM attended the BRICS leaders' retreat and also addressed the BRICS Business
01:16 Forum leaders' dialogues.
01:18 PM Modi said that India will soon become a $5 trillion economy and is poised to become
01:24 the growth engine of the world.
01:26 He further said that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa together can contribute
01:31 significantly to global welfare, particularly in the global south.
01:35 He told business leaders that mission mode reforms have improved the ease of doing business
01:40 in India.
01:41 He invited businesses to be part of the country's development journey.
01:44 China's leader Xi Jinping unexpectedly skipped a scheduled speech at the key multilateral
01:50 business forum in South Africa with no clear explanation.
01:54 Xi arrived in Johannesburg for the BRICS Summit on Monday evening, on what is only his second
01:59 international trip this year.
02:01 According to the summit schedule, Xi was expected to attend the business forum and deliver remarks
02:07 alongside other leaders.
02:09 But instead, it was China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao who read out his speech.
02:15 Xi later attended the summit dinner but no reason was given for missing the speech.
02:19 It appeared to be a last-minute decision.
02:22 China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao delivered the statement saying that some country obsessed
02:27 with maintaining its hegemony and has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets
02:31 and developing countries.
02:33 In a veiled attack at the US, the Commerce Minister of China said, "Everything we do
02:38 is to deliver better lives to our people, but some country obsessed with maintaining
02:43 its hegemony and has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing
02:47 countries.
02:48 Whoever is developing fast becomes its target of containment, whoever is catching up becomes
02:53 its target of obstruction.
02:55 But this is futile.
02:57 Every country has the right to development and the people in every country have the freedom
03:01 to pursue a happy life," Wentao said.
03:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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