Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina exchanged pleasantries at a dinner hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier on Wednesday.
Ramaphosa, who is also the current chair of BRICS, hosted the dinner at Gallagher Estate, Midrand in Johannesburg to welcome the leaders of member-countries and friendly nations who had joined the 15th BRICS Summit at his invitation.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was a few yards away from the Bangladesh premier, walked to Sheikh Hasina and exchanged pleasantries," said Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, as quoted by local media. He further mentioned that both leaders inquired about each other's well-being.
Hasina had also conveyed her congratulations to PM Modi after India made history with the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.
"Hon’ble PM of Bangladesh H.E. Sheikh Hasina sent a message to Hon’ble PM @narendramodi on 23 August 2023 congratulating him & the people of India on the successful lunar landing of #Chandrayaan_3. She also conveyed her felicitations to @isro," tweeted the Indian embassy in Bangladesh.
Earlier today, PM Modi held a brief interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping just before the leaders held a joint press conference on Thursday. However, the details of the conversation are yet to be revealed.
According to his schedule, the Indian Prime Minister will hold back-to-back meetings with member countries besides attending BRICS Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue. Despite being a jam-packed schedule, the major highlight would be if the Indian PM met Chinese President Xi Jinping before leaving the event.
Meanwhile, the leaders of BRICS countries unanimously agreed on the expansion of the bloc and welcomed six countries into the fold. The latest countries to join BRICS are Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They will become full members in January next year.
After the expansion was announced, PM Modi in his address conveyed his best wishes to the leaders of the six countries and said that they will further strengthen the BRICS alliance and give it a new impetus.
"First of all, I would like to conbvey my heartfelt congratulations to the leaders of these countries. I am confident that together with these countries we will able to infuse new momentum and new energy into our cooperation," he said.
Ahead of the major summit, around 20 countries had formally applied to join the alliance, including Argentina, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran and Venezuela, according to Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira.
(with PTI inputs)
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