First ministerial meeting of the BASIC countries after the Paris accord in December 2015 would be held this week to discuss climate change-related issues including implementation of decisions made as part of the agreement.
BASIC is a bloc of four large newly industrialised countries -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China.
During the two-day meeting, the ministers will deliberate on various provisions of the Paris agreement and related decisions including Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), transparency framework for action and support, matters relating to global stocktake, progress towards achieving the Pre-2020 actions and review issues.
"On the first day of the meeting, negotiators of all the four countries will meet and prepare the groundwork for the ministerial meeting. At the end of the two-day meeting, a Joint Statement will be issued by the Group of Ministers, highlighting the BASIC group position on the way forward for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and its decisions," an official statement from the Environment Ministry said.
The meeting will be attended by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs of China, Xie Zhenhua, Deputy Minister of the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa, Thomson Barbara and Ambassador Jose Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho, Under Secretary-General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil, along with other officials of their country.
