PM Modi, South African President Ramaphosa discuss ways to further deepen bilateral ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he had an excellent meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and discussed a range of issues aimed at deepening the bilateral ties and also working jointly to strengthen the voice of the Global SouthPrime Minister Modi who is on a threeday visit to South Africa and Greece reached here on Tuesday at the invitation of President Ramaphosa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit being held under the South African Chairmanship from August 2224Had an excellent meeting with President CyrilRamaphosa Modi tweeted after the meeting held ahead of the BRICS SummitWe discussed a wide range of issues aimed at deepening IndiaSouth Africa relations Trade defence and investment linkages featured prominently in our discussions We will keep working together to strengthen the voice of the Global South as well he said sharing some photographs of the meetingThe Global South is generally seen as home to Brazil India Indonesia and China which along with Nigeria and Mexico are the largest Southern states in terms of land area and populationBRICS has been pursuing a strong cooperation agenda across various sectors We value that BRICS has become a platform for discussing and deliberating on issues of concern for the entire Global South including development imperatives and reform of the multilateral system Modi said in New Delhi before his departure for JohannesburgThe Summit he said will provide a useful opportunity for BRICS to identify future areas of cooperation and review institutional developmentThis is the first inperson BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings because of the Covid19 pandemicOn Tuesday Modi attended the Leaders Retreat along with his counterparts from China South Africa and BrazilRussian President Vladimir Putin has not travelled to Johannesburg for the annual summit of the BRICS nations comprising Brazil Russia India China and South AfricaThe Retreat which took place in closed format was an opportunity for the leaders to discuss global developments and ways for leveraging the BRICS platform to find solutions to global challenges the Ministry of External Affairs MEA said in a press releaseThe prime minister also participated in the BRICS Business Forum Leaders Dialogue on Tuesday the MEA said in another press releaseDuring the meeting Modi highlighted the various reforms being undertaken by India to improve the ease of doing business including technologybased solutions to address the social and economic challenges it saidHe also invited BRICS business leaders to participate in Indias developmental journeyThe prime minister noted that Covid had highlighted the importance of resilient and inclusive supply chains and emphasised the importance of mutual trust and transparency for thisHe also stressed that together BRICS can contribute significantly to global welfare particularly of the Global South the press release saidDuring his stay in Johannesburg Modi will also participate in BRICSAfrica Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue events that will be held as part of the BRICS Summit activitiesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever