India PM Modi to attend BRICS summit, meet Xi and Sharif
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to arrive in the Russian city of Ufa to attend summits of the BRICS emerging economies and regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
On the sidelines, he is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. He is also likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif later in the week, Indian media reports say. Mr Modi began a five nation tour of Central Asia and Russia on Monday. He has visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and will visit Kyrgystan and Tajikistan after the two summits in Russia. Mr Modi will join leaders of BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to discuss regional and global issues and the recently-formed New Development Bank which is headquartered in Shanghai and has well known Indian banker KV Kamath as its first head. With the Chinese president, Mr Modi is expected to discuss bilateral issues on Wednesday, reports say. Ties have suffered a setback recently over China's proposed $46bn (£30bn) economic corridor through Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Delhi has also been unhappy over Beijing's support to Islamabad over the release of Mumbai attacks mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Reports say Mr Modi's meeting with Mr Sharif is due on Friday, but Indian officials are tight-lipped about the details.