Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have shot down suggestions that he was not going to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
Modi confirmed he had discussions with President Cyril Ramaphosa and was looking forward to the BRICS summit.
There were reports earlier that Modi would not travel to South Africa to attend the BRICS summit because of tensions between New Delhi and Beijing over a border dispute.
Modi said on Thursday he will participate in the summit.
“Pleased to speak with President Cyril Ramaphosa. Reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. Looking forward to participating in the BRICS summit in Johannesburg later this month,” said Modi.
Earlier Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya also denied claims that Modi would no longer be attending the summit in Sandton.
He said the Indian government had not sent any form of communication that Modi will not attend the summit.
He said as far as he knew all heads of state would take part in the meeting, scheduled for August 22-24.
He said Ramaphosa would speak with Modi.
“We have seen those reports. To date we have not received any official information coming from the Indian government, giving any substance to those reports.
“As I have said now with the Indian prime minister, we have not received any communication of substance to media reports that are doing the rounds,” said Magwenya.
BRICS will be attended by four of the five leaders in person and Russian leader Vladimir Putin will participate virtually.
This was after BRICS leaders agreed that Putin should not attend following the arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.
Politics