By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New Delhi on Friday in an effort to strengthen ties ahead of a weekend summit of the BRICS grouping of countries.
The BRICS summit, chaired by India this year, is a grouping of major emerging markets and developing countries.
The group’s acronym comes from the names of its founding members in 2006 — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which joined soon after. It has since expanded to include 11 countries that make up about half the world’s population.
Modi and Putin discussed cooperation in political, economic, defence, energy and other sectors.
They also spoke about India-Russia engagement in BRICS and exchanged views on regional and global issues, including Middle East conflicts, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Modi thanked Pezeshkian for Iran’s high-level participation in BRICS, “despite the challenging circumstances,” the ministry said, referring to the Iran war.
The two leaders, who had met earlier this month in Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, also discussed bilateral ties, the ministry said.
The summit on Saturday and Sunday will also include Chinese President Xi Jinping. The BRICS nations have been facing a test of their unity against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, as well as rising tensions between the United States and China.
India has for decades maintained close defence and economic ties with Russia and has called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine while maintaining relations with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
India has declined to join Western efforts to isolate Moscow over Russia’s war on Ukraine. New Delhi is also pursuing major trade and investment agreements with the U.S. and Europe.
Modi on Friday reiterated that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward between Russia and Ukraine, and said that India was ready to assist in peace efforts, the ministry said.
Russia also remains a key supplier of military equipment to India, although New Delhi has sought to diversify its defence purchases.
India has also sharply increased imports of discounted Russian oil since the invasion, making energy another pillar of the relationship and helping cushion the impact of the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war.
