...although issues like capital, membership and governance are still bogging the plan.
Politics of climate negotiation is expected to reach a crescendo tomorrow when the Durban talks enter the last leg of deliberations. With only one day to go and no major decision surfacing from almost two-week long parleys, uncertainty is looming large over the outcome of the talks.
The highlight of the first BRICS Summit on the African soil is the possible setting up of a development bank for undertaking infrastructure and development projects.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday left Durban for home, ending a four-day visit during which he attended BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit that decided to establish a development bank to finance infrastructure projects in emerging economies.
Sheela Bhatt, who traveled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the BRICS Summit in Durban, gauges the buzz ahead of the event that begins Tuesday.
The agenda is to give a concrete shape to a Development Bank and pitch for reforms of the UN Security Council.
Evidently, something has gone awry in India's regional strategies. Yet, one feels tempted to call this India's "BRICS moment". The Durban summit will show how far India is prepared to go in a new direction. MK Bhadrakumar examines
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet China's new President Xi Jinping in Durban on Wednesday, the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders after the leadership change in Beijing.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that his trip to Durban for the fifth BRICS Summit will be an opportunity for him to not only greet the new Chinese President Xi Jinping personally, but also to discuss how New Delhi and Beijing can maintain the positive trajectory of their relationship.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margin of the BRICS Summit in Durban, in the first structured high-level contact between the two countries since the change of leadership in China.
Pravin Gordhan, the finance minister of South Africa, says that in spite of several crucial issues still under debate, the BRICS bank was born today.
South Africa's Deputy International Relations and Cooperation Minister Marius Fransman said this would give a major boost to some of the development needs of these countries.
Set to get elected next week as China's new President, Xi Jinping will hold his first bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit to be held later this month in South Africa.
India and the other BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa and China) have rightly decided to forego any funding that comes from the Fast Start Climate Finance pledges since smaller countries are in dire need of it.
Srikanth Kondapalli on what to expect from the seventh BRICS summit meeting to be held in Russia in July.
The G20 meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governors beginning July 19 will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao and Deputy Governor Urjit Patel.
BRICS has no plans to form a military and political alliance, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, in an apparent effort to allay apprehensions of the West.
Sheela Bhatt who traveled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the BRICS summit in Durban, reports on what transpired during Dr Singh's first meeting with China's new leader Xi Jinping.
India looks forward to the meet between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Xi Jinping's in Durban on March 27 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. The next week is important for Sino- India bilateral relations, says Sheela Bhatt.
Modi said there were a slew of 'matching priorities' between the business council and that of his administration, including dismantling trade barriers, promoting skills development, establishing manufacturing supply chains and infrastructure development.
A senior government source explains to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt why India cannot pre-judge a rivalry with China.
Finance Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, including P Chidambaram, are likely to prepare a report for consideration of their leaders on Wednesday in which they are expected to say that launching a BRICS bank is 'feasible and workable'.
Modi will address world leaders from the iconic United Nations General Assembly hall on the morning of September 25, a day after he participates in the Quad Leaders' Summit in Washington, DC hosted by Biden on September 24.
May emphasise that the country is back on the fiscal consolidation path by reining in fiscal deficit at 5.2%.
At the Paris climate change summit, there is talk of restricting temperature rise to 1.5?C instead of 2?C, which has been negotiated so far. This would give India less space to grow by limiting carbon emissions further, reports Darryl D'Monte, reporting exclusively for Rediff.com from the French capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Brazil on Sunday for attending the five-nation summit of BRICS nations on July 14 and 15 which is expected to finalise the setting up of a development bank and seek reforms of the United Nations and international financial organisations.
The decision was taken at the BRICS Summit in Durban which also launched a Business Council to encourage investment and trade in member countries and to expand business cooperation.
Jayanthi Natarajan's tough stand ensures recognition abroad, but red-tapism & bureaucracy continue to delay approvals in India.
The bank, however, may not start functioning before 2014 and is likely to have substantially less initial paid-up capital than the amount of $240 billion that is doing the rounds currently.
Ahead of the first meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Durban, China today said such a meeting will help to build mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries.
The turning point in his career was undoubtedly Nepal where he was sent as ambassador and acted with a cool head.
Many people who recognise the grave implications of climate change find it difficult to grapple with it. The problem is too big and thinking about it can be unbearable, says Rajni Bakshi.
The Congress and AAP said the logo looks like the party symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Singh will arrive in Durban on September 30 to participate in the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of 'Satyagraha' and then for talks with President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria.
India and Brazil on Wednesday called for urgent progress in reforms of the UN Security Council, as they agreed to scale up bilateral ties and deepen cooperation in international fora.
'The Chinese can't be trusted hence the need to verify and re-verify.'
Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7 to July 11.
India is keen on the issue of equal share holding since it doesn't want a repeat of the distortions that have crept into Bretton Woods institutions like International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in which rich countries like the US and Japan have a strangle hold.
In spite of irritants and hiccups in the relationship, a few deliverables are expected of the prime minister's visit to China, says Rup Narayan Das.
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