【Text by Observers Network, Liu Chenghui】

After U.S. officials incited India to keep distance from the BRICS, Indian Prime Minister Modi spoke on the BRICS mechanism on July 2nd.

According to the "Russia Today" website, Modi started an eight-day tour of five countries on July 2nd. Before boarding his special plane to leave India, he said that the BRICS is an important platform for cooperation among "Global South" countries, which helps to establish a "balanced multipolar world order." He said that India will use this trip to strengthen the friendship bonds with the "Global South" and deepen cooperation on multilateral platforms such as the BRICS.

Modi's plan includes visits to Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia, during which he will attend the BRICS summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 6th to 7th.

"As a founding member, India is committed to building the BRICS into an important platform for cooperation among emerging economies," said Modi. "We will work together to build a more peaceful, just, equal, democratic, and multipolar world order."

He added, "I believe that the visit to the five countries will strengthen our friendship bonds in the Global South, consolidate our partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic, and deepen our cooperation on multilateral platforms such as the BRICS, the African Union, the West African Economic Community, and the Caribbean Community."

On July 2nd, Modi left India by special plane. Mint newspaper of India

The Indian newspaper Mint stated that Modi's eight-day journey is the longest visit in ten years. The last time Modi made an eight-day visit was in July 2015, when he visited Russia and five Central Asian countries.

Indian officials revealed that Modi's itinerary will focus on defense, rare earth minerals, counter-terrorism, trade, and India's partnerships with major countries in the "Global South".

Indian media pointed out that the BRICS summit is the most important stop of Modi's trip. He will make a state visit to Brazil after the summit.

The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement that "during the summit, Modi will exchange views on key global issues such as reform of global governance, peace and security, strengthening multilateralism, responsible use of artificial intelligence, climate action, global health, economic and financial issues."

In June this year, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told AFP that the "Global South" countries have a very strong sense of injustice regarding the current international order, which has driven the desire to reform the status quo.

"Russia Today" mentioned that, in addition to being one of the founding members of the BRICS, India has also maintained contact with Western countries, which is what India calls its "strategic autonomy" policy. India is also a member of the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue), and S. Jaishankar attended the second Quad meeting of the year in Washington on July 1st.

It is worth noting that in early June, the U.S. Commerce Secretary Ropert Lutnick had pressured India over tariff issues, urging it to stay away from the BRICS.

At an event aimed at promoting U.S.-India economic cooperation, he expressed optimism about reaching a trade agreement between the U.S. and India in the short term. However, he also began to lecture India, urging it to open up its domestic market, reduce purchases of Russian weapons, and reduce its "alliance" with the BRICS.

China has repeatedly emphasized that the BRICS advocates openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, does not engage in bloc confrontation, and does not target third parties.

Regarding the 17th BRICS Leaders' Meeting held in Brazil, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said on July 2nd that the BRICS cooperation mechanism is the most important platform for the unity and cooperation of emerging market countries and developing countries in the world today, and is an important force in promoting an equal and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive and balanced economic globalization.

Mao Ning pointed out that this leaders' meeting is the first summit after Indonesia and ten partner countries joined the BRICS, and several emerging market and developing countries, as well as international and regional organizations, were invited to attend. China expects to work with all parties to consolidate the strategic partnership of the BRICS, make contributions to maintaining multilateralism, promoting common development, and improving global governance, and promote the high-quality development of the "big BRICS cooperation".

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