Pretoria: In the backdrop of turmoil in global economy and polity, India and two other fast emerging economies - Brazil and South Africa - are expected to jointly press for urgent reform of the international institutions of governance at their summit in Pretoria on Tuesday that will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The summit, taking place just ahead of the G-20 Summit in France, will help the three countries devise a common position on the economic situation as well as other major issues.
Dr Singh, who arrived in Pretoria on Monday to attend the 5th India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit, will discuss with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma, the "serious international economic and financial crisis", M Ganapathy, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, told reporters here.
"The leaders will look at position to be adopted at Cannes (G-20) Summit," he said.
In a declaration to be adopted after the day-long summit, the leaders are expected to suggest how the international governance and in what ways these should be reformed to meet the challenges.
To a question, Mr Ganapathy said the three countries are seeking reform of the international financial institutions, besides the United Nations.
These issues, along with international commerce and food inflation, were discussed at the ministerial level talks on Monday.
In the backdrop of their common stand on Syria during the recent UN vote, the three countries are expected to discuss ways to enhance coordination on major global issues like Arab world situation and UN reforms besides piracy and terrorism, in the context of Afghanistan.
The global economic and financial situation is an important issue that will be discussed at the summit as has been stated by the Prime Minister, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.
He underlined that this issue was of concern to all the three countries as all them are affected by the global economic slowdown.
The spokesman referred to the Prime Minister's oft-repeated assertion that conducive global and regional environment is very crucial for India's economic growth.
Replying to a question, Prakash said IBSA provides a platform to the three countries to send a "powerful message of coordination" on various global issues.
In this context, he noted that India, Brazil and South Africa, all non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, had recently abstained from voting on a resolution regarding sanctions against Syria.
The resolution could not be passed as Russia and China also voted against it. Subsequently, representatives of the three countries had together visited Syria and met President Assad to press for dialogue.
"All the three IBSA countries gave a message of moderation," the spokesman said as he pointed out that sending a message as a group lends "additional weight" to the voice.
Leaders of the three countries, which are among the fastest growing economies of the world, will also discuss ways to push trade and commerce among themselves to enable them to build immunity against the effects of volatility in the economic and financial situation in the developed world.
Prakash noted that there were complementarities in the economies of India, Brazil and South Africa as all of them have low-cost model of development.
"The effort is to build synergies," he said.
The intra-IBSA trade has already crossed US $15 billion mark and is expected to go up to US $25 billion in the next two-three years, Prakash said.
To a question on relevance of IBSA after South Africa joined Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) grouping, the spokesman said both the groupings had their importance.
"It is not an issue of 'and' but 'also'," he said, implying that India was associating with both the groupings to enhance its trading capacities.
On bilateral front, he noted that China is a Strategic and Cooperative partner and largest trading partner of India.
The two countries have similarity of views on a number of issues, he added.
"China is reality, it is a major country and will remain a major country," Prakash emphasised.
Dr Singh, Mr Rousseff and Mr Zuma are also expected to discuss Afghanistan in the context of terrorism and regional situation, Prakash said.
Piracy is another very important issue which concerns all the IBSA countries, he said while noting that the reach of pirates was increasing and global efforts were underway to curb the menace.
UN reforms, including expansion of Security Council, will also be a prominent issue of discussion at the summit considering that all the three IBSA countries are aspirants for permanent membership of the powerful world body.
Cooperation in energy will also be discussed at the Summit amid India's keenness to explore all possible means of energy.
The summit, taking place just ahead of the G-20 Summit in France, will help the three countries devise a common position on the economic situation as well as other major issues.
Dr Singh, who arrived in Pretoria on Monday to attend the 5th India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit, will discuss with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma, the "serious international economic and financial crisis", M Ganapathy, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, told reporters here.
"The leaders will look at position to be adopted at Cannes (G-20) Summit," he said.
In a declaration to be adopted after the day-long summit, the leaders are expected to suggest how the international governance and in what ways these should be reformed to meet the challenges.
To a question, Mr Ganapathy said the three countries are seeking reform of the international financial institutions, besides the United Nations.
These issues, along with international commerce and food inflation, were discussed at the ministerial level talks on Monday.
In the backdrop of their common stand on Syria during the recent UN vote, the three countries are expected to discuss ways to enhance coordination on major global issues like Arab world situation and UN reforms besides piracy and terrorism, in the context of Afghanistan.
The global economic and financial situation is an important issue that will be discussed at the summit as has been stated by the Prime Minister, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.
He underlined that this issue was of concern to all the three countries as all them are affected by the global economic slowdown.
The spokesman referred to the Prime Minister's oft-repeated assertion that conducive global and regional environment is very crucial for India's economic growth.
Replying to a question, Prakash said IBSA provides a platform to the three countries to send a "powerful message of coordination" on various global issues.
In this context, he noted that India, Brazil and South Africa, all non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, had recently abstained from voting on a resolution regarding sanctions against Syria.
The resolution could not be passed as Russia and China also voted against it. Subsequently, representatives of the three countries had together visited Syria and met President Assad to press for dialogue.
"All the three IBSA countries gave a message of moderation," the spokesman said as he pointed out that sending a message as a group lends "additional weight" to the voice.
Leaders of the three countries, which are among the fastest growing economies of the world, will also discuss ways to push trade and commerce among themselves to enable them to build immunity against the effects of volatility in the economic and financial situation in the developed world.
Prakash noted that there were complementarities in the economies of India, Brazil and South Africa as all of them have low-cost model of development.
"The effort is to build synergies," he said.
The intra-IBSA trade has already crossed US $15 billion mark and is expected to go up to US $25 billion in the next two-three years, Prakash said.
To a question on relevance of IBSA after South Africa joined Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) grouping, the spokesman said both the groupings had their importance.
"It is not an issue of 'and' but 'also'," he said, implying that India was associating with both the groupings to enhance its trading capacities.
On bilateral front, he noted that China is a Strategic and Cooperative partner and largest trading partner of India.
The two countries have similarity of views on a number of issues, he added.
"China is reality, it is a major country and will remain a major country," Prakash emphasised.
Dr Singh, Mr Rousseff and Mr Zuma are also expected to discuss Afghanistan in the context of terrorism and regional situation, Prakash said.
Piracy is another very important issue which concerns all the IBSA countries, he said while noting that the reach of pirates was increasing and global efforts were underway to curb the menace.
UN reforms, including expansion of Security Council, will also be a prominent issue of discussion at the summit considering that all the three IBSA countries are aspirants for permanent membership of the powerful world body.
Cooperation in energy will also be discussed at the Summit amid India's keenness to explore all possible means of energy.
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