POBNEWS24, Dhaka Aug 19, 2023 : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week in Johannesburg, South Africa. The prime minister is going to Johannesburg, South Africa next Monday to attend the BRICS (Forum on Peace, Security, Development and Cooperation of Emerging Market Economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) summit. Discussions are going on about the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
The BRICS summit will be held from August 21 to August 24.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, chairman of the BRICS conference, invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to join BRICS during a meeting in Geneva. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is going to the BRICS conference on that invitation. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the delegation of Bangladesh, including the Prime Minister, may meet many important people on the sidelines of the BRICS conference.
Meanwhile, due to the arrest warrant of the international court, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending this year’s BRICS conference in person.
He will attend the conference virtually. Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to attend the conference.
Recently, some international media reports said that India is against the expansion of the BRICS alliance. Due to this, some countries including Bangladesh are not able to become members of BRICS.
In the latest weekly briefing on this matter, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India completely refuted the published news and said, ‘India is opposed to the expansion of BRICS – such information is wrong. Rather, the leaders of the 14th BRICS summit agreed on BRICS expansion. Now the sherpas of all BRICS coordinating countries are discussing this issue. We think everything is moving positively. Policies are being prepared for the inclusion of new member states.
New members will be taken only when the matter is finalized.
According to related sources, apart from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and some countries have expressed interest in becoming BRICS members. 70 countries have been invited to the conference held in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to visit India to attend the G20 summit next month. India has invited Bangladesh as a guest country at the G20 summit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the conference.
