Summits & Meetings - Current Affairs for October, 2016

BRICS nations namely Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa on 16th Oct 2016 inked three agreements to boost bilateral cooperation– these agreements were inked in Goa during the 8th BRICS summit

• The summit was held from 15 to 16 Oct under the theme Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions
  
  List of MoUs signed by BRICS countries includes:
  
  
• MoU for establishment of BRICS Agricultural Research Platform
• MoU on mutual cooperation between diplomatic academies
• Regulation on customs cooperation committee of the BRICS
• BRICS members are also part of the G-20
• As of 2015, the given BRICS countries represent 3.6 billion people or half of the world population
• All 5 members are in the top 25 of the world by population and four are in the top 10
• The 8th BRICS summit was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma.
• Towards the end of the summit, the 109 point declaration was established
• The states indicated it was the responsibility of all states to prevent terrorist action from their territories
• They condemned some recent terror attacks such as the Uri terror attack in India
• The leaders also condemned terrorism in all its forms and stressed there can be no justification for such attacks
• They acknowledged that international terrorism, such as IS constitute an unprecedented threat to peace and security
• All 5 nations reaffirmed the commitment to increase effectiveness of the UN counter terrorism framework
• Goa Declaration also called for reforms in the UN including the Security Council to increase the representation of developing countries
• They also highlighted the importance of public and private investments in infrastructure such as connectivity
• Apart from this, leaders of the BRICS nation also appreciated the progress in the strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership and emphasised the importance of the BRICS roadmap for trade, economic and investment cooperation until 2020.
• BRICS leaders also welcomed the signing of the MoU between BRICS nations National Development Banks and the New Development Bank
• BRICS Grouping welcomed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and said growth was imperative in a sustainable and inclusive fashion.
• Summit’s focus was also on enhancing P2P contact through activities such as Film Festival, Young Diplomats Forum, Youth Summit and U-17 Football Tournament.
• The ninth BRICS summit will be hosted by China in 2017
• Leaders also held an outreach summit with leaders of BIMSTEC or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation member countries
• The BIMSTEC grouping comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
• The grouping also examined possibilities of expanding trade and commercial ties between the member nations of the two religious groupings

Pakistan officially postponed the SAARC summit in November after Sri Lanka added to the criticism by pulling out of the summit becoming the fifth nation to do so

• Previously, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka had also pulled out of the SAARC Summit
• Only Nepal and Maldives did not object
• China called for restraint, asking the countries to leave aside tensions
• Meanwhile close ally Russia is currently exercising with Pakistan in the first ever counter terrorism operations for the two countries
• Russia called for de-escalation of tensions between the two nations
• China has refused to criticise Pakistan on terror groups though some of these train Uighur militants in Xinjiang
• It has also failed to allow UN Security Council's 1267 committee to ban Jaish e Mohammed's Masood Azhar, a big sore point with India.
• India had submitted a detailed dossier on Azhar and moved the UNSC 1267 committee following the January 2 attack on an Indian airforce station in Pathankot.
• In March, India's submission was considered by the counter-terrorism executive directorate for technical aspects of the evidence provided. The technical team then with the support of the US, the UK and France had sent it to all the members.
• India had said the sanctions committee was taking a "selective approach" in tackling terrorism.