After reports that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not attend the upcoming BRICS summit in person, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly called the Indian leader to persuade him to fly to South Africa.
Reports from India now say Modi has accepted the in-person invite and is expected to touch down in Sandton later this month.
Modi will be joined by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who is also travelling to South Africa for the summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the only BRICS leader who will join talks via audio-visual link due to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant over war crimes in Ukraine.
South Africa is a signatory in the Rome Statute and is legally obligated to enact the warrant should Putin ever set foot in the country.
Modi’s initial decision to skip the summit and tune in remotely raised concerns about the legitimacy of the summit, with only three leaders attending the first on-site conference since the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
