He’s one of 26 invited heads of state, a dozen of whom have already arrived.

Angola’s foreign affairs department says Russian President Vladimir Putin, British premier Theresa May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian leader Abdelfatah El Sisi have been to the inauguration …

…that will bring Luanda to a stop today.

A raft of African leaders have already arrived in Angola.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame touched down shortly before his South Africa  counterpart Jacob Zuma last night.

Zuma’s expressed the desire to have relations established during the liberation struggles in both countries translate into significant bilateral trade and investment.

In addition to meeting with President Joao Lourenco, Zumas will see outgoing president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and have bilateral meetings with a number of African peers.

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The five-nation body, that includes South Africa, has also united startlingly against international terror groups.

President Xi Jinping opened the second BRICS summit China’s hosting with a call for members to shelve differences.

He and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi set the example with smiled and handshakes after a recent border dispute in the plateau known as Donglang or Doklam, depending on which side of the border one finds oneself

China’s shelves plans to increase the size of BRICS because of resistance by members to Beijing bringing friendly neighbours into the grouping struggling to retain the economic power it enjoyed when it was formed 15 years ago.

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Their joint communique says they cover communications, science and technology, tourism and cultural cooperation.

ends intro

The leaders agree there’s room for improving bilateral ties,  so they and their officials should meet more regularly.

They agreed to intensify collaboration in defence, energy, agro-processing, human resource development, infrastructure development as well as science, technology and innovation.

President Jacob Zuma and Prime Minister Narendra Modi say there’s huge potential to increase bilateral trade and to expand investment.

They addressed a bilateral business forum in Johannesburg that heard South Africa and its immediate neighbors are about to conclude a preferential trade agreement with India

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He’ll be in South Africa on Friday.

Modi’s first visit  to the African mainland reflects India’s desire to further strengthen and reinvigorate bilateral ties with the continent.

ends intro

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s African  tour will include Tanzania and Kenya.

Last year he called on Mauritius and Seychelles.

India’s ties with Africa were renewed by the Africa India Forum Summit last October attended by no fewer than 41 of the 54 African leaders.

India’s pushing hard to to get solid African backing for it’s desire to get a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Modi will see the leaders of all four countries he’s visiting this month.

His South Africa itinerary includes visits to Johannesburg. Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

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Indian premier Narendra Modi has the best performing economy of the five leaders at the summit.
He’s tweeted on how delighted he is to be at the gathering, expected to be dominated by discussions on enhancing cooperation in the economic area,
and how confident he is of it succeeding.
With the $100 billion BRICS Development Bank already set up, the summit could also look at the possibility of starting trade and credit facility in local currency.

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