BRICS Foreign Ministers Hold Virtual Meeting

WHY IN NEWS ?

• BRICS foreign ministers meeting was held virtually on June 1, 2021. This meeting was hosted by India.

Agenda of the meeting

• During the minister’s meet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted significant principles which were guiding BRICS.
• He also referred to international law and UN Charter which recognises sovereign equality of all states and respects territorial integrity.
• According to him, desired change can be achieved only by conducting policies in line with these principles.

Who hosted the meeting?

• BRICS meeting was hosted by India in its capacity as chair of BRICS. It was attended by Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi; Minister of International Relations of South Africa, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor; and Foreign Minister of Brazil, Carlos Alberto Franco.

Significance of meeting

• BRICS foreign ministers, for the first time, have agreed on common goal of “reforming the multilateral system”. They also agreed, such reform should cover all key multilateral institutions, including-

• UN and its principal organs such as UN general assembly, UN Security Council etc.
• International financial architecture such as IMF & World Bank
• Multilateral trading system such as WTO & UNCTAD and
• Global health governance system along with WHO.

BRICS ministers agreed to bring in new life on discussions regarding reform of UN Security Council.

Key deliverables by India

• India put forward four key deliverables including, reform of multilateral system, use of digital and technological solutions to achieve SDGs, counter-terrorism cooperation and enhancing people-to-people cooperation apart from BRICS cooperation on COVID-19 pandemic