"Partner country model focus area at 16th BRICS Summit": Foreign Secy Vikram Misri

He further reiterated that the discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin included a partner country model.

The remarks by Misri came while addressing a media briefing.

He said, "I think one of the focus areas is, I wouldn't say the expansion of BRICS, but what we are discussing right now which is the modalities and guidelines for implementing a partner country model with BRICS. So that is one of the focus areas for this summit."

Misri further said that discussions between the leaders on the second day of the summit would include "political and strategic issues; economic trade and financial issues; and on people-to-people and cultural relations."

"Beyond that, of course, I would imagine that there will be a lot of discussions between the leaders on the key themes and the key vectors within BRICS on political and strategic issues, on economic trade and financial issues and on people-to-people and cultural relations. I don't want to preempt and prejudge what will be the actual outcomes of the summit tomorrow (October 23). My colleague will be here to brief you on BRICS in detail and that will include the developments with regard to alternative payment mechanisms, etc. which are all being discussed in the BRICS task force on payments, which has three or four different streams working within it," Misri said.

He added, "With regard to discussions between Prime Minister and President Putin on some of the issues that are being discussed in BRICS on membership is a partner country model that is under discussion. The guidelines, modalities and the parameters of this model are under discussion. This is something that is still a work in progress at this point. So, I don't want to go beyond my brief and comment on something that is still under discussion. Again, there might be developments later..."

The 16th BRICS Summit is being held under Russia's chairmanship in Kazan. This visit marks PM Modi's second visit to Russia this year. He travelled to Moscow in July to attend the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit.

BRIC, as a formal grouping, started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St Petersburg on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in 2006.

The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The first BRIC Summit was held in Russia's Yekaterinburg in 2009.

It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers' meeting in New York in 2010. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011.

A further expansion of BRICS took place in 2024 with five new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. (ANI)