PM’s departure statement ahead of his visit to South Africa and Greece

I will be visiting the Republic of South Africa on 22-24 August 2023 at the invitation of HE Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, to attend the 15th BRICS Summit which will be held in Johannesburg under the South African Presidency.

The BRICS have been pursuing a strong cooperation agenda in various sectors. We welcome the fact that BRICS has become a platform for discussing and deliberating on issues of concern to the entire Global South, including development imperatives and reform of the multilateral system. This summit will provide a useful opportunity for the BRICS to identify future areas of cooperation and review institution building.

During my stay in Johannesburg, I will also participate in the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue events which will be held as part of the BRICS Summit activities. I look forward to interacting with some guest countries that have been invited to participate in this event.

I look forward to having bilateral meetings with some of the leaders present in Johannesburg.

From South Africa, I will be traveling to Athens, Greece on 25 August 2023 at the invitation of HE Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece. This will be my first visit to this ancient land. I have the honor of being the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Greece in 40 years.

Contacts between our two civilizations go back over two millennia. In modern times, our ties have been strengthened by shared values ​​of democracy, the rule of law and pluralism. Cooperation in various fields such as trade and investment, defense and cultural and people-to-people contacts have brought our two countries closer together.

I look forward to my visit to Greece opening a new chapter in our many relationships.

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DS/ST