PM Modi lauds Brazilian Dilma Rousseff's leadership

Brisbane: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised Dilma Rousseff for her “visionary” leadership of the Brics grouping and congratulated the Brazilian president on her re-election. “I wish to join my other colleagues and congratulate President Dilma Rousseff on her re-election as the President of Brazil,” Modi said in his opening remarks at the Brics Leaders’ meet in Brisbane on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.[caption id=“attachment_1804711” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff ahead of G-20 Summit, in Brisbane, Australia on 15 November 2014. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] Brics is the acronym for an association of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “From Brazil to Brisbane, it has been most successful journey under your leadership. Our group will continue to benefit from your visionary leadership,” he said. Rousseff hosted today’s meeting of Brics nations, who are also members of the G20. Brazil also hosted the Sixth Brics Summit in Fortazela in July. The leaders reached a landmark agreement on establishing the Brics Development Bank and reserve currency pool. The 66-year-old Rousseff, the first woman president of the world’s seventh-largest economy, had a narrow margin of victory with 51.6 percent of the vote to 48.4 percent of business favourite Aecio Neves in the run-off election last month. PTI