India defends resolution to skip Brics naval drill | India Information

NEW DELHI: The Indian authorities has defended its resolution to not take part within the “Brics Naval Train”, saying it was purely a South African initiative during which not all Brics members took half.The naval train was not an everyday or institutionalised Brics exercise, stated the ministry of exterior affairs.“India has not participated in earlier such actions. The common train that India is part of on this context is the IBSAMAR (India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime) train that brings collectively the navies of India, Brazil and South Africa. The final version of IBSAMAR was held in Oct 2024,” stated MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.The ministry was responding to queries associated to India’s absence from the “so-called Brics naval train”. India will maintain chairship of Brics in 2026 and exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar stated final week that the grouping of rising markets and creating economies remained an vital discussion board for larger dialogue and cooperation, and sensible responses, bearing in mind completely different nationwide priorities and levels of growth.The joint train held in South African waters included the navies of China, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The week-long navy wargame came about amid rising tensions in Iran over doable navy strikes on the nation following its crackdown on anti-govt protesters.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Brics for seeking to problem American financial hegemony by transferring away from the US greenback. India, nevertheless, maintains that it’ll not again any BRICS push for “de-dollarisation”. Initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Brics expanded in 2024 to incorporate Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with Indonesia becoming a member of in 2025.