No country should weaponise critical minerals, technology or supply chain, says PM Modi

Although he did not name it, that was an implied criticism of China, which has suspended the export of speciality fertilisers to India and restricted rare earth materials exports to many countries.

Rio de Janeiro: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that no country should weaponise critical minerals and technology or supply chains to further its own interests at a cost to the rest of the world.

“In addition to greater cooperation in critical minerals and technology, we must focus on securing and making their supply chains resilient. It must also be ensured that no country uses these resources solely for its own interests or as a weapon,” he said at an outreach session during the BRICS Summit here.

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Although he did not name it, that was an implied criticism of China, which has suspended the export of speciality fertilisers to India and restricted rare earth materials exports to many countries.

On another contentious issue also involving Beijing, PM Modi said that when the BRICS New Development Bank sanctions projects, the focus should be on demand-driven decision-making, long-term financial sustainability, and maintaining a healthy credit rating.

This would be in contrast to China’s practice of financing development projects that do not take the recipient’s own priorities into account and are geared towards making the debts unsustainable, enabling it to take ownership of projects and coercing the countries politically and economically.

To ensure that BRICS has credibility when it calls for reforming multilateral institutions, it should improve its own systems, PM Modi said.

This is important because economic cooperation within BRICS has been steadily progressing, he added.

He made the observations while speaking at the Outreach Session on Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic-Financial Affairs and Artificial Intelligence, in which BRICS members, partners and invitees like United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres participated.

PM Modi said BRICS must work towards Responsible AI, in which its governance gives equal priority to addressing concerns and encouraging innovation.

“We in India believe in AI as a tool to enhance human values and capabilities”, and “guided by the mantra of ‘AI for All’, India is actively using AI in many sectors,” the PM said.

Guterres said, “The AI can’t be a club of the few, but must benefit all, and in particular, developing countries which must have a real voice in global AI governance”.

“But we cannot govern AI effectively — and fairly — without confronting deeper, structural imbalances in our global system”, he said, pointing out that it includes the Security Council.

The world is now multipolar, and it “requires multilateral governance — with global institutions tuned for the times, in particular the Security Council and the international financial architecture,” he said.

PM Modi said that the Global South has many expectations from BRICS and to fulfil them, BRICS must lead by example.

“India is fully committed to working shoulder to shoulder with all partners to achieve our shared goals,” he said.

As an example of how BRICS can fulfil the aspirations and expectations of the Global South, he cited the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform set up in India.

It can be a medium for sharing best practices in agri-biotech, precision farming and climate change adaptation, he said.

He also proposed creating a BRICS Science and Research Repository that can also benefit the countries of the Global South.