Amitabh Kant flags 3 key tests for India at BRICS: West Asia, China ties and summit document

As India prepares to host the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, former G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant has identified three things he will be watching closely: the language of the summit document, consensus among BRICS members on West Asia, and movement in India-China ties.

Kant said India would have to steer the expanded grouping carefully at a time of wars, protectionism, and growing economic tensions.

"India must ensure that, in terms of its language, the document must be fairly progressive, forward-looking, and yet not be anti-Western," Kant said while speaking at India Today BRICS Roundtable.

Must Read: India cannot become $30 tn economy without US, China, Europe: Amitabh Kant on New Delhi's BRICS challenge

For Kant, that balance will be central to India's BRICS presidency. The grouping has become more complex after its expansion, with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE now among its members despite their differing positions in the West Asia conflict.

The former G20 Sherpa said his second focus would be whether India can help bridge those differences and get the members to agree on a common position.

"It's important that we are able to resolve the differences despite the conflict in West Asia between Iran, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, which is highly complex, but India must play a key role in getting the right minimum language, the right minimum language to be able to resolve this," he said.

The third issue Kant will be watching is the bilateral engagement on the sidelines of the summit, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"Other than the BRICS summit, there'll be a lot of bilateral action. The Prime Minister will be meeting Putin and Xi Jinping. The China-India play on issues of development, trade, and technology is critical. I see that there should be a movement forward."

He said India-China ties had been moving smoothly until the Galwan clash, after which India introduced tighter investment rules, including Press Note 3.

The former NITI Aayog CEO also referred to the subsequent changes to beneficial ownership rules under Press Note 2, under which Chinese investment of up to 10% is allowed. "But it must be very we need a movement forward. We need to advance this forward," he said.

Kant argued that India should focus on attracting Chinese technology and investment rather than allowing the trade imbalance with China to widen. "It's much better to get Chinese technology and Chinese investment rather than allowing this imbalance of trade with China to continue and grow," he said.