Rio de Janeiro, July 7 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa here on Sunday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit before Ramaphosa endorsed his call for United Nations Security Council reform.
“Good catching up with my friend, President Ramaphosa of South Africa,” PM Modi posted on X after their meeting.
Speaking at the summit, Ramaphosa backed the demand for Council reform.
The Council, Ramaphosa said, “has become too rigid, too narrow and too disconnected from today’s multipolar realities”, and unable to meet the challenges of maintaining international peace and security, its primary function.
It is not able to react to the global dangers “ranging from humanitarian crises to open acts of aggression”, he said.
“Reform is a necessity. The Security Council must be made more democratic, more regionally representative and more accountable,” he said.
Council reform was among the demands made by PM Modi, who spoke before him at the summit.
Sunday’s ‘catch up’ was the second meeting between PM Modi and Ramaphosa in 19 days, having met in Canada during the G7 Summit to which they were both invitees.
After that meeting, he said that they, along with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will be “unwavering” in their commitment to the interests of the Global South.
At the BRICS summit they will be able to follow through on that commitment.
India and South Africa have several joint projects for skills development, trade, economic cooperation and technology.
They plan to deepen their strategic partnership, focusing on areas like agro-processing, defence, mining, and finance.
Their bilateral trade has reached nearly $20 billion.
PM Modi visited South Africa in 2023 for the BRICS summit that year and held bilateral talks with the leaders.
Ramaphosa was the chief guest at the 2019 Republic Day celebrations and his last visit to India was in 2023 to attend the G20 summit.
As one of the leaders of Africa, South Africa joins India in being a voice of the Global South in international forums.
–IANS
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