New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a five-nation tour from 1 to 10 July, one of the lengthiest overseas visits of his tenure. The itinerary spans Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, and Namibia, and aligns with the BRICS Summit scheduled in Rio de Janeiro on 6–7 July, where Modi is expected to play a prominent role. BRICS is considered amongst the strongest, influential non-Western bloc that represents the Global South.
A source familiar with the planning said in Brazil, the PM is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brasília, before heading to Rio for the BRICS summit.
While the gathering will feature a number of important bilateral interactions, it’s the absence of two powerful figures that is already drawing attention. Russian President Vladimir Putin, embroiled in a prolonged war with Ukraine, will not be present. His absence stems from an active ICC arrest warrant, which has made his foreign travel diplomatically complicated. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend in his place.
In an unexpected development, Chinese President Xi Jinping is also unlikely to travel to Rio—the first such absence in his tenure. Premier Li Qiang is expected to lead the Chinese delegation instead. While Beijing hasn’t given a formal explanation, diplomatic watchers have cited either scheduling issues or friction with President Lula as possible reasons.
This visit underscores India’s growing emphasis on strengthening ties with nations often referred to as “small” in geopolitical terms—a shift that The Sunday Guardian had previously described as a Modi-era reimagining of India’s global outreach. (A Modi revolution in India’s relations with smaller nations)
Significantly, Modi will be visiting Ghana, Namibia, and Trinidad and Tobago for the first time as Prime Minister. The last Indian PM to visit Ghana was P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1995. Similarly, Manmohan Singh had visited Trinidad and Tobago in 2009.
While President Pranab Mukherjee had travelled to Namibia in 2016, Modi will be the first PM to visit the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming 10-day tour will mark the second-longest foreign visit of his tenure—his longest being an 11-day trip in November 2014 to Myanmar, Australia, and Fiji. In the lead-up to this tour, Modi visited Sri Lanka in April 2025, followed by key bilateral engagements in Cyprus and Croatia in mid-June, and then participated in the G7 Summit in Canada earlier this month.
This year’s BRICS summit—hosted by Brazil—will focus on amplifying the voice of the Global South, deepening trade in local currencies, and pushing forward the long-standing demand for reform of global institutions. India is also expected to raise the issue of international terrorism, especially in wake of the Pahalgam massacre and reiterate its call for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism—a proposal it has championed for over two decades.
