As the South African city of Johannesburg hosts the 15th BRICS summit from August 22 to 24, headlines have been devoted to the possibilities of certain anticipated bilateral meets on the sidelines. One such possibility is of Chinese president Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi having an in-person meeting – their first since the May 2020 border standoff, though they had a fleeting encounter at a G20 dinner in Bali last November.
Yet the summit’s agenda – to deliberate upon the expansion of BRICS’ membership – is the bigger picture that India and other member states must not lose sight of. BRICS, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has had 23 countries – some reports say 40 – knocking at its doors with applications for membership.
