Prime Minister Narendra Modi will once again come face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Brics Summit on Tuesday, just a week after the two met virtually at the SCO Summit. This is the second time PM Modi and Xi Jinping will attend the same virtual meet amid the prolonged standoff with China in Ladakh. PM Narendra Modi will attend the virtual summit of the Brics group on Tuesday which will focus on cooperation in counter-terrorism, trade, health, energy and ways to offset the impact of coronavirus pandemic. Apart from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also scheduled to attend the 12th summit of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) grouping. The Brics Summit comes at a time when India and China continue to be locked in the bitter border standoff in eastern Ladakh for over six months. PM Modi and Xi Jinping met virtually for the first time amid the standoff on November 10 at the SCO Summit and the Brics meeting will be the second. “At the invitation of President Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the 12th BRICS Summit hosted by Russia, under the theme ‘Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth’ on November 17,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. The Brics is known as an influential bloc that represents over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world’s population. The Brics nations have a combined GDP of $16.6 trillion. The MEA said the leaders would be discussing intra-Brics cooperation and key issues in the global context, including the reform of the multilateral system, measures to mitigate the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, cooperation in counter-terrorism, trade, health, energy and people-to-people exchanges. “India will be taking over the chair of the BRICS, which would be the third BRICS Presidency for India since its inception (after 2012 and 2016) and will host the 13th BRICS summit in 2021,” the MEA said.