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BRIC, IBSA to hold discussions on Iran
Indrani Bagchi | TNN
New Delhi: The Iran nuclear question will dominate discussions at the nuclear summit in Washington next week. Significantly, and for the first time, it will also be a major standalone issue to be debated by leaders of the top emerging economies later in the week (April 15-16) when the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) and BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) groupings meet in Brasilia.
In a clear sign that global power is shifting, India, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and China will take time off from collective navel-gazing to debating global issues of peace and security. Apart from signalling a greater confidence in each other, the group is also showing a willingness to increase its international footprint, which may or may not always coincide with the US-EU stand on things. Parvati Sen-Vyas, secretary in MEA, said on Friday that Shivshankar Menon, national security adviser, will discuss international security issues with his counterparts as well as hold his own set of bilateral meetings in Brazil, broadening the mandate of these meetings.
While Russia and China have been closely involved with the Iran question in the UN Security Council as P-5 members, India has had a different history, because it has now voted three times against Iran at the IAEA, leading to a distinct cooling between Tehran and New Delhi.
For China, too, the debates in Brasilia could provide useful cover for its ultimate decision on Iran in the UNSC, where it has already indicated that it will restart discussions with the US, which desperately wants a new sanctions regime for Tehran. It is unlikely that BRIC-IBSA will advocate further sanctions on Iran though.
On the Middle East, while Russia is a member of the Quartet, the views of India and other countries will show whether there is another approach to solving the worlds longest bilateral crisis. The Israel-Palestine stand-off will also be a significant part of the IBSA discussions. Although India was unconscionably late in responding to the Haiti earthquake, the BRIC-IBSA countries plan to increase support to rebuilding the poor Central American nation.
For India, these exercises are significant. Traditionally not comfortable with articulating its foreign policy beyond the glaringly obvious we want-peaceful-resolution type language, India is increasingly being called upon to take sides, and come up with clearly nuanced foreign policy formulations that balance both its own interests and its international responsibilities.
ToI feed dated 11 April 2010.
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