IBSA Leaders’ Summit At Johannesburg: PM Modi Calls For Stronger Trilateral Cooperation | World News

Johannesburg: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Leaders Meeting in Johannesburg on Sunday and discussed trilateral cooperation and the commitment of participating nations to the Global South.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were also present at the meeting.

South Africa is the current IBSA President. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), IBSA is a unique Forum that brings together India, Brazil and South Africa, three major democracies and major economies of three different continents facing similar challenges. When the Foreign Ministers of the three countries met in Brasilia on 6 June 2023 and issued the Brasilia Declaration, the grouping was formalized and named the IBSA Dialogue Forum.

Speaking at a special media briefing on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to South Africa on November 20, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (Economic Affairs) Sudhakar Dalela said: “As you all know, India, Brazil and South Africa are three democracies from three continents, all from the Global South. And I would say we have a very unique forum to coordinate among ourselves around the three pillars of cooperation. One is political coordination. Second is the trilateral cooperation that we have, including people-to-people contact, and thirdly, IBSA.” “What we are doing collectively for countries in the Global South, especially on food and hunger, through the Fund.”

“So this meeting, albeit a meeting on the sidelines of a summit, will be a short meeting. I am sure that the three leaders will review the developments that we have been following recently under these three pillars of cooperation. I would also like to say that the IBSA foreign ministers also met on the margins of the UNGA in New York, just in September this year, and issued a statement on some of the themes that we continue to discuss among ourselves as like-minded countries.”

On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi held a meeting with South African President Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg. In the video shared on X, the two leaders were seen greeting each other warmly before moving on to the meeting.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (Economic Affairs) Sudhakar Dalela and other officials were present at the meeting.

Sharing the video of the meeting on

“This morning’s bilateral meeting between heads of state provides an opportunity to re-engage constructively, strengthen bilateral relations and explore mutually beneficial initiatives in the fields of trade, industrialization, education, information and communication technologies and infrastructure development,” the statement said.

On Saturday, Ramaphosa warmly welcomed Prime Minister Modi as he arrived to attend the G20 Leaders Summit at Nasrec in Johannesburg.

Speaking at both sessions of the opening day of the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg, Prime Minister Modi underlined the need for stronger global cooperation, disaster resilience and sustainable development.

According to detailed remarks shared by the Prime Minister’s Office, in a series of posts on

Addressing X, the Prime Minister said that the second session of the Summit focused on building a resilient world in the face of disasters and climate change, ensuring just energy transitions and strengthening global food systems. “India is actively working on all these fronts, building a people-centered and inclusive future,” he wrote.

Reiterating India’s long-held view that major global challenges require coordinated global solutions, Prime Minister Modi said this belief guided India’s decision to set up the Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction during its G20 Presidency. He added that disaster management must move from a purely “response-centered” model to a “development-centered” model, and cited the Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Coalition as an example of this approach.

The Prime Minister also proposed creating a G20 Open Satellite Data Partnership, which would make G20 space agencies’ satellite data and analysis more accessible to developing countries, especially in the Global South. He emphasized that better access to space-based vehicles will help nations in the areas of agriculture, fisheries and disaster management.