PM leaves for Pletoria for ISBA summit, focus on global issues

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will participate in the 5th summit of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) in Pretoria Tuesday that will focus on increased coordination on a host of global issues, including the UN reforms, the international economic situation and climate change. Manmohan Singh left for Pretoria Monday morning.

He is accompanied by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee. Ahead of the summit, Manmohan Singh said the IBSA Dialogue Forum had “matured considerably over the years”, and underlined that “the idea of three large developing democracies working together in a highly complex global environment has taken root, and has received universal welcome by our peoples”.

Manmohan Singh said the summit will focus on coordination among the IBSA countries in the UN Security Council, sustainable development and the forthcoming meetings on climate change and the G20 in Durban and Cannes respectively. For the first time, India, Brazil and South Africa are serving in the UN Security Council as non-permanent members.

“We have shown significant cohesiveness and coordination in our approach to issues under discussion in the Security Council," he said. The leaders of the three countries are also expected to discuss the current global economic slowdown and will formulate their strategy for the G20 summit in France next month. Issues related to increased counter-terror cooperation and maritime safety are also expected to be discussed.

A joint communique outlining IBSA's stand on leading global issues and its plan for intra-regional cooperation is expected at the end of the summit Tuesday. In Pretoria, Manmohan Singh will also hold bilateral talks with Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.

The 5th IBSA Summit comes against the backdrop of a recent victory of sorts for the three countries where they joined hands to oppose a Western-backed resolution against Syria in the Security Council.

With the formation of Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS), some sceptics had voiced doubts about the relevance of IBSA. However, Manmohan Singh has asserted many a time that IBSA's unique character as a grouping of leading democracies of the South can't be overshadowed by any other formation.
 
The IBSA initiative was launched in June 2003 when their foreign ministers met in Brasilia and agreed to set up a forum to hold regular dialogue and consultations on matters of mutual interest, notably in economic, defence and social affairs. In 2006, the forum was upgraded to the summit level. Since then four summits have been held, two hosted by Brazil and one each by South Africa and India. The forum has 16 working groups on areas such as health, agriculture, education, technology and defence.