Prime Minister Narendra Modi minced no words as he made his anti-war stance clear on Wednesday. He attended the Closed Plenary Session of the BRICS Summit in Russia and said India supports dialogue and diplomacy, not war.
He stated, “We support dialogue and diplomacy, not war. And, just as we together defeated a challenge like COVID, in the same way, we are fully capable of creating new opportunities for a safe, strong and prosperous future for the future generation…Similarly, we should work for global regulations for cyber security, safe and secure AI.”
He went on to add, “We all have to be united and cooperate strongly to deal with terrorism and terror financing. There is no place for double standards on such a serious issue. We should take active steps to prevent radicalization among the youth of our countries. We have to work together on the pending issue of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN.”
He stressed on the importance of being people-centric. He explained, “Our meeting is taking place at a time when the world is surrounded by many challenges like wars, conflicts, economic uncertainty, climate change, terrorism. There is talk of the North-South and East-West divide in the world…And, in the age of technology, new challenges like cyber security, and deepfake disinformation have emerged. In such a situation, there are many expectations from BRICS. I believe that as a diverse and inclusive platform, BRICS can play a positive role in all issues. In this context, our approach should remain people-centric. We should give the message to the world that BRICS is not a divisive but a public interest group.”
He went on to say, “As we take our efforts forward in BRICS, we must be careful to ensure that this organisation does not acquire the image of one that is trying to replace global institutions, instead of being perceived as one that wishes to reform them.”
Apart from the event, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping began bilateral talks on the sidelines of 16th BRICS Summit on Wednesday.
