PM Modi's visit to S Africa to help Indian community, says diaspora member

Indian diaspora in Johannesburg on Monday said that PM Modi's visit to South Africa for the 15th BRICS Summit will be highly beneficial for the Indian community, adding that the BRICS summit holds the potential of enhancing bilateral trade and cooperation between South Africa and India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit South Africa at President Cyril Ramaphosa's invitation to attend the 15th BRICS Summit, which will be held in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24.

CEO of Concept Digicom Srishti Sumani said: "PM Modi's visit to South Africa is going to be a highly beneficial one because there are a lot of Indian communities here in South Africa, lots of expat Indians as well."

The group of nations known as BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - represents a quarter of the world's economy.

She said: "The Indian culture is just growing... I feel like all of his speeches and his thoughts are very futuristic and it's going to really help the Indian community here...We are excited for PM Modi's visit. We are going to organise a 'Rakhi' ceremony as well for PM Modi..."

CEO of Alfeco Group Sachin Ahuja on the PM's visit said it is going to add to all the bilateral trade, other agreements which are going to be beneficial for both countries- South Africa and India.

"We all welcome him... BRICS summit provides a platform for all the developing nation to boost their bilateral trade. If you look at the participant countries, they represent 60 per cent of the trade of the world. So we are quite optimistic that BRICS can provide a formidable platform for trade..." he said.

The founding member and Director of the first Gurdwara Saheb in South Africa, Harbinder Singh Sethi said, "We are very happy that PM Modi is coming to South Africa. We expect the relationship between India and South Africa to deepen after this BRICS Summit."

He further added by saying: "We wish that PM Modi should encourage big Indian companies to come to Africa and employ locals in big numbers so that unemployment decreases. This way both the nations can grow together..."

This year's BRICS is under the presidency of South Africa. South Africa became the Chair of BRICS on January 1 under the theme: "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism."

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that India has a really positive intent for the expansion of BRICS and supports it with an open mind.

In a special briefing ahead the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to South Africa for the BRICS meeting, he said, "In so far as BRICS expansion is concerned, we have been clear from the start that we have positive intent and an open mind when it comes to BRICS expansion. Those are the subject matters of ongoing current discussion between the Sherpas of the BRICS in South Africa and I would not want to prejudge the outcome of the discussions."Kwatra added, "There is considerable interest in many countries to become part of BRICS and to associate themselves with BRICS to leverage various opportunities that the alliance presents for itself."

During his visit to South Africa, PM Modi will also participate in a special event "BRICS - Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue" being organized after the BRICS Summit, which will include other nations invited by South Africa, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in a press release. He will also hold bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the 15th BRICS Summit virtually while the Russian delegation will be led by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. After wrapping up the BRICS meeting, PM Modi will travel to Greece on August 25.