New Delhi, India on Tuesday said it has extended an invitation to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend the outreach session of the upcoming BRICS summit in his capacity as the current chair of the BIMSTEC grouping.
India is hosting the annual BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, which is expected to deliberate extensively on a number of pressing global challenges, including the economic consequences of the West Asia crisis.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that an invitation was extended to Rahman to undertake a bilateral visit to India after he assumed the charge of the top office in February.
"As far as the BRICS summit is concerned, India has separately extended an invitation to the Bangladesh prime minister in his capacity as the current chair of BIMSTEC to attend the outreach session of the 18th BRICS Summit," Jaiswal said at a regular media briefing.
"The invitation has been extended as per the standard practice being followed in BRICS for the outreach sessions. Other heads of regional groups have also been invited in a similar manner," he said in response to a question.
New Delhi is hosting the BRICS summit in its capacity as its current chair.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the top leaders expected to attend the summit.
BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
The BRICS has emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.
India has invited leaders of a number of non-BRICS countries to attend the outreach session of the summit.
BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation is a regional grouping comprising India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
