PM leaves for South Africa to attend BRICS summit

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for South Africa on Tuesday to participate in the BRICS summit that will be held from August 22.

"I am visiting the Republic of South Africa from 22-24 August 2023 at the invitation of Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, to attend the 15th BRICS summit being held in Johannesburg under the South African chairmanship.

"BRICS has been pursuing a strong cooperation agenda across various sectors. We value that BRICS has become a platform for discussing and deliberating on issues of concern for the entire Global South, including development imperatives and reform of the multilateral system," he said in his departure statement.

Prime Minister Modi added that the BRICS summit will provide a useful opportunity for BRICS to identify future areas of cooperation and review institutional development.

"During my stay in Johannesburg, I will also participate in BRICS–Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue event that will be held as part of the BRICS summit activities. I look forward to interacting with a number of guest countries that have been invited to participate in this event. I also look forward to holding bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg," he said.

The Prime Minister further informed that from South Africa, he will travel to Athens, Greece on August 25 at the invitation of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece.

"This will be my first visit to this ancient land. I have the honour to be the first Indian prime minister to visit Greece after 40 years. Contacts between our two civilizations stretch back over two millennia. In modern times, our ties have been strengthened by shared values of democracy, rule of law and pluralism. Cooperation in diverse sectors such as trade and investment, defence, and cultural and people-to-people contacts have been bringing our two countries closer," he said.