Press Release: Opening ceremony of the BRICS University President Forum 2015 10/17/2015

1. Ambassador Ashok.K Kantha attended the Opening ceremony of the BRICS University President Forum 2015, held at Beijing Normal University (BNU) on October 17, 2015. Mr Yuan Guiren, Minister of Education, People’s Republic of China, Ambassadors from the other BRICS member countries, representatives from around 50 BRICS universities were present on the occasion.

2. In his address, Ambassador while elaborating on the high importance that India attached to BRICS as a proactive instrument for promoting global economic growth, peace and stability, emphasized on further collaboration among BRICS in areas like education, culture and people to people contact to augment cooperation and coordination. In this connection he stated that concrete proposals made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent Ufa Summit and the 2014 Summit Fortaleza, including the setting up of a BRICS University with campuses in each member country as well as research collaboration and faculty exchange would be relevant for discussions at this Forum.

3. The Forum, which is jointly organized by BNU and Beijing Municipal Commission of Education from October 17-19, 2015 strives to build an exchange platform among academia, political sphere and business community, leading to in-depth research on major challenges confronted by the BRICS countries and the world at large. Representatives from 12 Indian Universities including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, Vishwa Bharti University, University of Educational Planning and Administration, Delhi University and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi are participating in the Forum.