Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on October 22-23 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the  16th BRICS Summit in Kazan.

The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement: "Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Russia from 22-23 October 2024 at the invitation of H.E Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, being held in Kazan, under the Chairmanship of Russia."

The Summit themed as 'Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security" will provide an important platform for leaders to discuss key global issues.

"The Summit will offer a valuable opportunity to assess the progress of initiatives launched by BRICS and to identify potential areas for future collaboration," the statement said.

The MEA said during the visit PM Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from BRICS member countries and invited leaders in Kazan.

What is BRICS?

The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. 
Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, the group was formalised as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City, reads the BRICS India 2021 website.

After a series of high-level meetings, the 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on 16 June 2009.

BRIC group was renamed as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) after South Africa was accepted as a full member at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011.