<p>Johannesburg, Aug 22 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attended the BRICS Leaders Retreat and deliberated on global developments with other leaders of the five-member bloc.</p><p> Modi arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day visit to South Africa and Greece. In South Africa, he will attend the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg from August 22-24 at the invitation of the country’s President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa.</p><p>This is the first in-person BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings because of the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>"Reinforcing the intra-BRICS bonds! PM @narendramodi arrives at the Summer Place to participate in the BRICS Leaders Retreat. Warmly greeted by the host, President @CyrilRamaphosa of South Africa," Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.</p><p>"PM, along with other BRICS leaders will deliberate on global developments and leveraging the BRICS platform to find solutions to global challenges," he said.</p><p>Earlier, the prime minister spoke at the BRICS Business Forum Leaders' Dialogue.</p><p>He viewed a model of the under-construction Swaminarayan Temple here before taking part in the BRICS Business Forum Leaders' Dialogue.</p><p>BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.</p><p> Meanwhile, media reports from Johannesburg said Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to show up at the BRICS Business Forum on Tuesday in South Africa, where he was expected to deliver a speech alongside his counterparts.</p><p> In his place, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao read the speech that criticised the US over its tendency toward “hegemony”.</p><p> Xi, in the speech read by Wang at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, said the US tended to fight countries that threaten its dominance in global affairs and financial markets.</p><p> The speech said that every country has a right to development and that people should have the freedom to pursue a happy life.</p><p> But one country is “obsessed with maintaining hegemony, has gone out of its way to cripple the emerging markets and developing countries”, he said in a veiled swipe at the US.</p><p> “Whoever develops first becomes their target of containment. Whoever is catching up becomes its target of obstruction,” Xi added.</p><p> Although he had arrived in South Africa on Monday evening, Xi skipped the business forum and no explanation was given, the report said. PTI MRJ KJV AKJ MRJ MRJ</p><p><i>(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)</i></p>
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