Brics NSAs meet in South Africa to explore security cooperation

New Delhi: National Security Advisors (NSAs) of the Brics member states will meet in South Africa from Monday to Wednesday and explore a security cooperation mechanism for the grouping amid several geopolitical security threats.

It is not clear yet whether NSA Ajit Doval will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission, on the sidelines of the event, which will be closely followed amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

Doval and Wang last met in March 2022 in Delhi. Wang had then proposed a three-point agenda to improve ties - under which the two sides should view bilateral relations with a long-term vision; they should see each other's development with a win-win mentality and both countries should take part in the multilateral process with a cooperative posture.


External affairs minister S Jaishankar and Wang met in Jakarta earlier this month on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, and they discussed "outstanding issues" along the Line of Actual Control.

Doval is expected to meet his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev, with whom he held a conversation within days of the failed mutiny in Russia. They are expected to discuss entire gamut of the strategic partnership, including defence-energy ties, indicated people familiar with the matter.

Other matters to be discussed at the 13th Brics NSA meeting include how Brics can effectively address traditional and non-traditional security threats in a coordinated manner, enhance solidarity and coordinate development for the fundamental benefit of members and the international community.

At the 12th NSA meeting in 2022, held virtually under China's Brics presidency, Doval had called for bolstering cooperation against terrorism without any reservations. He had also emphasised the need for urgent reforms of the multilateral system in order to address global issues with credibility, equity and accountability.