BRICS Summit a milestone for Goa – Parsekar
October 14, 2016, 8:30 am

Goa’s Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has said the BRICS Summit will boost investment in the state. Here he is seen greeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) in August this year [Xinhua]

The summit will be a milestone in the history of the Indian state of Goa, said its Chief Minster Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday.

“It’s a milesone [because] the declaration that would be finalised after the summit will be [titled] as the ‘Goa declaration of BRICS’, and it would remain in history,” Parsekar told The BRICS Post.

“Due to BRICS, Goa has now got international attention,” he added.

Although economic growth has cooled in some of the member countries like Brazil and Russia, the bloc is still eclipsing global figures.

In the past year, the BRICS countries launched new financial institutions like the $100 billion BRICS Bank (also known as the New Development Bank), the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, and a $100 billion BRICS currency reserve fund.

Parsekar believes India should look at the BRICS summit from an ‘investment’ point-of-view.

“Industries across the country will benefit from the BRICS summit. Businessmen and industrialist from our country will get an opportunity to invest in other countries. Likewise, it will also bring foreign investors from various countries to India,” Parsekar said.

He added that the summit is expected to boost investment in the fields of Information Technology (IT), Pharmaceuticals, education and health in Goa.

Spotlight on Goa’s culture

Parsekar says the summit is the biggest event Goa has ever hosted and will showcase the state’s culture, hospitality and cuisine.

The five heads of BRICS attending the summit represent 42 per cent of the world’s population, which account for more than a quarter of the world’s economic output.

BRICS nations’ average economic growth was seen to be 5.1 per cent this year, which overshadowed the 3.1 per cent for the world, Indian Central Bank chief Urijit Patel said at a BRICS event in the Indian city of Mumbai on Thursday.

Parsekar said that over 720 million rupees ($10.8 million has been spent on hosting the BRICS annual summit in the state.

Heads of State from BIMSTEC – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand – will also attend the BRICS Summit in Goa at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

By Nawaz Shaikh for The BRICS Post in Panaji, Goa