PM Modi leaves for Johannesburg to attend the 15th BRICS Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for a four day visit to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS ( Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit.  

The Prime Minister said that the BRICS Summit will provide a useful opportunity for the grouping to identify future areas of cooperation and review institutional development. 

Key highlights of the BRICS Summit

• The Prime Minister said he is visiting South Africa at the invitation of President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa to attend the BRICS Summit being held in Johannesburg under the South African Chairmanship. 
• The Prime Minister said, during his stay in Johannesburg, he will also participate in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue event that will be held as part of the BRICS Summit activities. 
• The Prime Minister said he is looking forward to interacting with a number of guest countries that have been invited to participate in the event. Mr Modi said he is also looking forward to holding bilateral meetings with some of the Leaders present in Johannesburg.
• Russia’s leader can’t attend the summit because host country South Africa would be obliged to arrest him for alleged war crimes. 
• 7 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
• President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation under the Rome Statute.

About BRICS

• BRICS" is the acronym denoting the emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. 
• The term was originally coined in 2001 as "BRIC" by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in his report . 
• The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. 
• Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, the group was formalised as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City.
• After a series of high level meetings, the 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on 16 June 2009.
• The BRIC group was renamed as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) after South Africa was accepted as a full member at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011.
• BRICS is an important grouping bringing together the major emerging economies from the world, comprising 41% of the world population, having 24% of the world GDP and over 16% share in world trade. 
• BRICS countries have been the main engines of global economic growth over the years. Over a period of time, BRICS countries have come together to deliberate on important issues under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial and cultural and people to people exchanges.
• The most visible success for BRICS  at an economic level has been the founding of the New Development Bank (NDB) in 2014. 
  • Since the launch, NDB has financed almost 100 projects with 34 billion USdollar mainly in core infrastructure sectors (water. transportation, clean energy, digital, etc) that do not typically attract conventional frame of credit. 

About (International Criminal Court) ICC

• The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands.
• In 1998, 60 countries signed the Rome Statute after it was opened for signature by the United Nations. The Statute laid the foundation for the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. Its purpose is to investigate and prosecute the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
• The powers of the ICC
  • The ICC is only competent to hear a case if:
  • the country where the offence was committed is a party to the Rome Statute; or
  • the perpetrator's country of origin is a party to the Rome Statute.
• The ICC may only exercise its jurisdiction if the national court is unable or unwilling to do so. The ICC only has jurisdiction over offences committed after the Statute’s entry into force on 1 July 2002.