Subhechcha Ganguly 
India’s position that Brics should be enlarged through “full consultation and consensus” among members of the group was underlined by MEA spokeswoman Arindam Bagchi.On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that he would be attending the Brics Summit in person from August 22 to 24, which would put an end to rumours that the event might only be held virtually because Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided not to go.Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, invited Prime Minister Modi attend the Brics Summit and gave him an update on preparations during a phone call on Thursday night. According to a transcript of the conversation by the external affairs ministry, the prime minister “accepted the invitation and conveyed that he looked forward to his visit to Johannesburg to participate in the summit.”
Media speculations that Modi would skip the summit of the presidents of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were earlier referred to by the ministry as “speculative.” Putin will attend the meeting virtually, according to Russia, and a team will be led to Johannesburg by Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister.Ramaphosa reportedly called with Modi on Thursday to arrange his presence at the summit. According to the readout, the two leaders “positively assessed” the development of their bilateral relationship and spoke about several local and global concerns.
Ramaphosa expressed his unwavering support for the actions undertaken by India during its G20 chairmanship and expressed excitement for his upcoming trip to India to attend the G20 Summit.
