The first assignment for India’s foreign policy under the historic third consecutive term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin at the meeting of the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) Foreign Ministers beginning in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday (local time). The two-day meeting chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes ahead of the BRICS Summit slated to be held this October.

Last year, S Jaishankar represented India at the BRICS foreign ministerial meeting held in South Africa’s Cape Town. This year too Jaishankar is likely to participate in the meeting as Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was sworn in on Sunday evening has not yet officially named his foreign minister. Jaishankar was among the 72 council of ministers who took oath in the new coalition government of Modi that won this year’s parliamentary elections in the country.

Meanwhile, within the framework of the Foreign Ministers’ meeting, a separate meeting will also be held with the participation of a number of countries of the Global South and East.

“During the upcoming meetings, the parties plan to discuss current issues of international relations, international agenda, improvement of the global governance system with emphasis on strengthening the role of developing countries, conflict resolution, and interaction in leading multilateral platforms,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, state media TASS reported.

The meetings are expected to discuss current geopolitical issues and improve the global governance system with an emphasis on increasing the role of developing countries. Outcomes of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will feed into the 16th BRICS Summit scheduled to take place in Kazan in October.

This is the first meeting of foreign ministers since the expansion of BRICS in 2023. The 10 full members of the association include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa with new members Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia joining the grouping in 2023.

Russia took over the chairmanship of BRICS on January 1, 2024. The Ministry of External Affairs recently said that BRICS is an important platform and India looks forward to participation in meetings organised by Russia as BRICS chair this year.

“We have been consistently saying that BRICS is an important platform for us and we look forward to our participation in the meetings that will be organized by Russia as chair of BRICS this year,” MEA Official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal in a weekly press briefing last month. (ANI)