Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, whose theme this year is 'BRICS in Africa'. The two leaders are believed to have exchanged views on the international landscape, BRICS cooperation and other issues of mutual interest. PM Modi also met Chinese President Xi Jinping for the third time in nearly four months.
Leaders of the BRICS emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- gathered in Johannesburg for a three-day meeting focused on the threat of a US-led global trade war. US President Donald Trump's hardening stance has compounded fears of an all-out trade war after he slapped levies on goods from China worth tens of billions of dollars and imposed tariffs on other international imports.
The prime minister is on a 3-nation tour to Africa and has held delegation level talks in Uganda as well as Rwanda. PM Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Rwanda, where he gifted 200 cows for an economic development project of the East African nation. He also announced that India will soon open its mission in Rwanda. His visit to Uganda was the first bilateral tour by an Indian prime minister since 1997.
He reached South Africa from Uganda's capital Kampala on Wednesday where he was welcomed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on his arrival.