Negotiators are close to finalizing the wording of the BRICS Joint Statement as world leaders prepare to convene in India on Friday. Sources informed NDTV that the discussions are nearing completion, setting the stage for the upcoming summit.
Yesterday’s Sherpa meeting went well, a source said. If the remaining gaps close as planned, member countries should have the draft in hand by tomorrow, clearing the way for the joint statement to stand as one of the summit’s defining results. Negotiators made real progress narrowing the gaps still left in the text.
The joint statement is being made amid the usual scramble that precedes these summits, countries trying to find language on a handful of difficult geopolitical questions that nobody will end up regretting later, a diplomat who was in the room told NDTV. “The discussions were positive,” one diplomatic source said, noting that what remains is mostly a matter of getting the phrasing right on a few sticking points.
The Joint Statement is expected to be one of the summit’s biggest outcomes – a single document meant to show where the member countries stand on the major issues of the moment and where they’re willing to work together.
