By Apoorva Shukla
PM Modi at BRICS: Under its presidency, India will work to define BRICS in a new form and it will be ‘Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the summit of the grouping on Monday. In an address at a session on environment and global health, Modi also said that the health of the earth and the health of people are connected to each other as he underlined the need to remain prepared for any eventualities. The COVID pandemic taught us that viruses do not come taking visas, and solutions, too, are not chosen by looking at passports, the Prime Minister said. Underlining India’s priorities during its presidency of BRICS grouping next years, PM Modi said, “Under India’s BRICS presidency, we will work to define BRICS in a new form. BRICS will mean — Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability.” “For India, climate justice is no alternative; it is a moral duty,” PM Modi said, adding: “Where some people measure it in numbers, India lives it in values.” In a big message, Prime Minister Modi said the developing nations must have the same confidence about the future that the developed nations have. The self-confidence about the future that developed countries have — the same self-strength should also be in these countries, he added. Along with several top leaders, PM Modi held deliberations on a range of pressing challenges facing the globe at the BRICS’ two-day annual summit in this seaside Brazilian city. BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, with Indonesia joining in 2025. The BRICS has emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.