Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Berlin this evening for an overnight stopover en-route to Fortaleza in Brazil for the BRICS Summit.

In a departure statement before leaving for Berlin this morning for his first multi-lateral engagement with global leaders, Mr Modi said that India looks forward to the BRICS initiative for setting up the New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which have seen significant progress since their launch in New Delhi in 2012. The BRICS Development Bank with a corpus of 100 million US dollars will fund projects in a number of countries and other developing countries. He said that India will discuss at the BRICS Summit efforts to address regional crises and security threats to restore a climate of peace while advancing global economic stability. The Prime Minister noted that the meeting is taking place at a time of political turmoil, conflict and human crisis in several parts of the world. The Prime Minister said that many emerging economies have experienced a slowdown, which has increased the challenge of pursuing inclusive and sustainable economic development. He said that the summit will be an occasion for his first meeting as Prime Minister with the leaders of important global partners of India like Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa.

Mr. Modi is visiting Brazil at the invitation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to attend the Sixth BRICS Summit on 15-16 July.