Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will come face-to-face at the virtual BRICS Summit that kicks off on Thursday.
This will be the second time that both leaders have come together on a multilateral forum, ever since the border stand-off began at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in April and May 2020. They last met virtually in November 2020.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will also be attending the summit.
The theme of the summit will be ‘Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus’ and will also be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.
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The summit is being held at a time when Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis. Focus of the BRICS Summit, apart from Covid cooperation, will be the new Taliban caretaker government in Afghanistan, and routing development aid to the war ravaged country.
Russia and China are expected to insist that the BRICS Bank extend aid to the war-torn country. However, India, Brazil and South Africa may not agree to this.