NEW DELHI: The BRICS Summit took place in the backdrop of a “very polarised world” and “we forged a consensus” in the midst of it, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday, as he described the mega event hosted under India’s chairship a success.
Interacting with mediapersons here, he also spoke about what was definitely the “toughest issue of the day”, the West Asia conflict, saying, “We were able to get out a statement to which everybody agreed.”
The BRICS members adopted a joint New Delhi Declaration on Saturday after overcoming sharp divisions between the UAE and Iran regarding the West Asia conflict while notably omitting direct mention of the US for its attacks on Iran.
The negotiations on the text of the declaration went down to the wire as both Iran and the UAE hardened their positions initially.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the adoption of the declaration at the end of the opening day’s deliberations in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other top leaders of the bloc.
“The BRICS Summit was taking place in a very polarised world – there were two major conflicts, big divides and very strong opinions and interests. Even in the midst of this polarisation, we actually forged a consensus. If you look at it, the toughest issue of the day was the West Asia conflict. But we were able to get out a statement to which everybody agreed,” Jaishankar said.
“A statement urging peace, security, stability, long-term understanding, smooth flow of global trade, of supply chains, of energy, and protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he added.
Jaishankar said it wasn’t just that “we were able to negotiate an understanding in a polarised world”, the entire atmosphere and ethos, and the mood of the summit which ended Sunday was such that there were “very open and comfortable conversations”.
“Leaders met, who perhaps in other circumstances may not have met. So they met in the course of this summit. And it actually ended up contributing a lot to the global conversation on important issues,” Jaishankar said, without naming any country.
Several bilateral meetings were held on the sidelines of the summit hosted at the Bharat Mandapam complex.
Strategic affairs experts said the bilateral meeting between the Abu Dhabi crown prince and the Iranian president was also significant, pointing to the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
Jaishankar said the “whole nation and indeed the world saw the success of the BRICS India Summit yesterday”.
As many as 32 delegations had come for the summit – 11 from BRICS member states, 10 partners, four regional bodies and seven international organisations, he added.
