Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the host and he will be joined for the 8th Brics summit by the leaders of Russia and China, whose emerging friendship worries the West, as well as the presidents of South Africa and Brazil.
Those won’t be the only VIP motorcades zipping through Goa.
Brics leaders are reaching out to the little-known regional group snappily known as BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, this year. That means the leaders of the countries on the Bay of Bengal, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar, and those dependent on its waters for trade, such as Nepal and Bhutan, are also traveling to Goa.
Since the first summit in 2009, Brics has expanded its scope to include everything from a national-security dialogue this year to infrastructure financing through the New Development Bank, conceived as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund.
But most of the Brics countries are dealing with political and economic headwinds.
China’s economy has slowed. Russia, buffeted by low commodity prices and western sanctions, is struggling to climb out of a recession, as is Brazil, whose former president was forced to step down after impeachment proceedings. South African President Jacob Zuma escaped impeachment, but corruption scandals and infighting in his party have hurt the government’s credibility.
India, while economically stable, faces a tricky geopolitical chess game. It must somehow side-step the awkwardness that its growing friendship with the U.S. and animosity with Pakistan are causing with Russia and China.
On two of India’s foreign-policy priorities–membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and a U.N.-designated ban on Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar–Mr. Modi is being stymied by China while finding support in Washington. Meanwhile, India’s longstanding relationship with Moscow has come under a bit of strain as its defense ties with Washington expand.
While the Brics and BIMSTEC leaders will meet within their own groups and also with each other for talks on Sunday, some individual leaders plan to hold one-on-one meetings on Saturday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet with Mr. Modi at a time when Beijing’s support for Pakistan and its blocking of India’s international proposals has irked New Delhi.
India and Russia are expected to sign major defense deals when Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin sit down to talk as New Delhi looks to reassure Moscow it hasn’t forgotten its oldest partner while it shops for arms in the U.S., France, Israel and other places.
India’s shift toward Washington has complicated regional ties, with Russia carrying out its first-ever military exercises with Pakistan this month and agreeing to sell weapons to it.
