After P Chidambaram Questions BRICS Benefits, Shashi Tharoor Lists Some

A day after senior Congress leader P Chidambaram questioned the "tangible benefits" India got out of BRICS, his party colleague and MP Shashi Tharoor has said that the grouping shows India's "diplomatic convening power".

Speaking ahead of the BRICS summit in Delhi, Tharoor called the grouping an important platform for the Global South.

"First of all, we're providing an important platform for the Global South. You know, the Global South is over 100 countries, but here we have 11 key players from the Global South who collectively represent much of the diversity of views, as well as the range of countries that we are essentially chairing on this particular occasion. This grouping, the 11 BRICS countries, represents a majority of the world's population and 41 per cent of global GDP," Tharoor said highlighting the importance of BRICS.

"It's not a small matter. It's something that has to be taken very seriously by the rest of the world," he added.

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Calling the hosting of the summit a "matter of prestige", Tharoor said the event has great global value.

All set for BRICS Summit in Delhi

"Secondly, of course, having a dozen heads of state and government, not only members of BRICS but also some observers coming at presidential and prime ministerial level, is a matter of great prestige for us. It shows a certain diplomatic convening power, which has value in and of itself on the global stage."

Tharoor then went on to dwell on some of the challenges for the grouping. The former UN diplomat flagged the difficulty of consensus on pressing global issues among the countries.

"Now, that's not to say there are only benefits; there are challenges, in particular, the fact that it's difficult to find a convergence of views. For example, on an agreed declaration on global issues."

Tharoor pointed out the BRICS foreign ministers could not agree on a joint statement on the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Calling it a challenge to secure a convergence of views among the different member states, Tharoor pointed out that if that happens again, some will see it as a setback.

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"When the foreign ministers met, we ended up with India as chair issuing a chair's declaration rather than an agreed joint declaration. Will that happen again? It would perhaps be seen by some as a setback and perhaps even as an indication of the group's fundamental incoherence, or will we be able to paper over the differences? That's going to be a real challenge for our diplomats."

In May this year, when Foreign Ministers of BRICS met in New Delhi, differences between Iran and the UAE over the war scuttled a joint declaration. At that time, India was unable to bridge the diplomatic gap within BRICS and could not come up with a joint statement after the two-day meeting of the Foreign Ministers.

Tharoor also pointed to India's trade imbalance with BRICS nations as another matter of concern.

"Then there are other practical matters. Trade among the BRICS countries has been growing, but in many ways to our disadvantage. Our exports to the BRICS countries have gone down, while our imports from the BRICS countries have gone up," he said.

Read | No Gains For India From BRICS, Says P Chidambaram. BJP's 'Naraaz Phupha' Jibe

On Wednesday, former Union minister and Tharoor's party colleague, P Chidambaram, had questioned the "tangible benefits" India has gained from recent BRICS summits. Chidambaram said he had not seen any significant outcomes from the last two or three meetings. He pointed out that India is part of several multilateral groupings, including BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), G20 and QUAD, but questioned what concrete benefits the country has received from them.

"I don't know how many Presidents and how many Prime Ministers are coming. I don't think the last two or three BRICS summits have resulted in tangible benefits or tangible results," Chidambaram told news agency ANI.

The BJP had lashed out at Chidambaram, calling him part of the "naraaz phupha" lot who can't digest India's progress.