photo courtesy : The Economic Times
NEW DELHI: In a big breakthrough for India’s chairship of the BRICS Summit, the grouping has agreed on a joint statement.
The BRICS New Delhi Declaration “deplores” all kinds of aggression without naming any country, which assumes great significance in the view of ongoing conflict in West Asia. The decalaration will stress that “dialogue and diplomacy are the way forward” to end conflicts.
It’s a big win for Indian diplomacy and BRICS Sherpas to have managed to bring all the member countries to agree to a joint declaration.
The BRICS Sherpas had been burning the midnight oil for days in the lead up to the Summit to thrash out consensus for a joint leaders’ declaration, as differences remained over the language on the situation in West Asia.
The differences between Iran and UAE, both India’s close allies, due to the war, were the main reason for a lack of consensus on a joint declaration.
In May this year, when Foreign Ministers of BRICS met in New Delhi, differences between Iran and the UAE over the war scuttled a joint declaration. At that time, India was unable to bridge the diplomatic gap within BRICS and could not come up with a joint statement after the two-day meeting of the Foreign Ministers.
But the consensus this time around, shows India’s diplomatic heft and strategic approach in bringing all the member-states to agree to common language.
Umakant Lakhera is a Senior Journalist and Political Commentator
