The comments underscore Modi’s challenge in trying to balance ties with Russia, which India relies on for cheap oil, and the US, which is providing access to cutting-edge technology to ramp up manufacturing and add jobs in the South Asian nation. China and India are also on a path to normalizing relations after a four-year border standoff, with Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding their first bilateral talks in two years on Wednesday.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Brics shouldn’t project itself as an alternative to global organizations, even as founding members like Russia and China try to expand the group to challenge the US-led global order.
“We must be careful to ensure that this organization does not acquire the image of one that is trying to replace global institutions,” Modi said at closed plenary session of the Brics leaders’ summit in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday. The group should work to reform institutions like the United Nations Security Council and multilateral lenders, he said.
