Detailing his trip to Brazil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the BRICS summit will focus on strengthening ties among the world’s five major economies in key areas such as digital economy, science and technology, and also build mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation.  Modi, who left for Brazil in the afternoon, will be in that country on November 13-14 to attend the 11th BRICS summit.

“I look forward to exchanging views with other BRICS leaders with the aim to further strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation, particularly on the theme of the summit ‘Economic growth for an innovative future’,” Modi said in his departure statement.         During the summit, the five major economies of the world will aim to significantly strengthen their cooperation in science, technology and innovation, he said.

The BRICS countries will also look to enhance cooperation on digital economy and build mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation within the BRICS framework, Modi said. “Our business and industry play an important role in Intra-BRICS ties. I will be addressing BRICS Business Forum and interacting with  BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank,” he said.

On the bilateral meeting with the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro,  he said Brazil and India share close and ever expanding bilateral relations, including in the spheres of defence, security, trade, agriculture, energy and space. Close cooperation between the two countries in multilateral forums has been a significant aspect of our strategic relationship, Modi said.

“BRICS summit will also provide me with the opportunity to hold useful bilateral interactions with leaders of other BRICS countries,” he said.

This will be the sixth time Modi will be participating in the BRICS summit, his first being at Fortaleza, also in Brazil in 2014.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. He would also attend the BRICS business forum closing ceremony and the ‘closed’ and plenary sessions of the XI BRICS Summit.

BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping brings together five major emerging economies comprising 42 per cent of the world’s population, having 23 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product.