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Xi and Modi hold first formal talks in five years

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Putin gets a win with Xi-Modi meeting

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Putin says 30 countries hope to join BRICS

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BRICS communique calls for less conflict

(Recasts headline and lead Xi, Modi meeting in paragraphs 1,2,

3-7, O'Neill comments paragraphs 10-11, 23)

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge

KAZAN, Russia, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi

Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a BRICS

summit in Russia on Wednesday to showcase ambitions for a more

harmonious relationship between the world's two most populous

countries after years of animosity.

The meeting between Xi and Modi, who have not held formal

talks for five years, was one highlight of a summit which

President Vladimir Putin sought to use to show that the West had

failed to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war.

A final communique listed a number of projects aimed at

facilitating trade between BRICS nations - including an

alternative payment system to the dollar - but did not include

details or timelines.

Just two days after New Delhi announced that it had reached

a deal with Beijing to resolve a four-year military stand-off on

their disputed Himalayan frontier, Xi told Modi that they should

enhance communication and cooperation and effectively manage

differences.

"It is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and

peoples for China and India to correctly grasp the trend of

history and the direction of development of their relations," Xi

said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

In response, Modi told Xi that maintaining peace and

stability on their frontier should be a priority, and that

mutual trust, respect and sensitivity should be the basis of the

relationship.

"We welcome the agreement on the issues that had come up

over the last four years," Modi told Xi in comments that were

aired on India's state broadcaster Doordarshan.

BRICS - an idea thought up inside Goldman Sachs two decades

ago to describe the growing economic clout of China and other

major emerging markets - is now a group that accounts for 45% of

the world's population and 35% of the global economy.

The BRICS summit clashes with the International Monetary

Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

Former Goldman economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the BRIC

term in 2001, told Reuters that he had little optimism for the

BRICS club as long as China and India remained so divided.

"It seems to me basically to be a symbolic annual gathering

where important emerging countries, particularly noisy ones like

Russia, but also China, can basically get together and highlight

how good it is to be part of something that doesn't involve the

U.S. and that global governance isn't good enough," O'Neill told

Reuters.

UKRAINE WAR

Putin, who dismisses Western claims that he is a war

criminal for Russia's actions in Ukraine, hosted more than 20

leaders at the summit in the city of Kazan on the banks of the

Volga, including Tayyip Erdogan, who leads NATO member Turkey,

and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Modi told Putin in public that he wanted peace in Ukraine.

Xi discussed the war in the Ukraine behind closed doors with the

Kremlin chief, as did United Arab Emirates President Sheikh

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who has sought to mediate.

The 43-page final communique from the summit ranged from

geopolitics and narcotics to artificial intelligence and even

the preservation of big cats, but lacked detail on some major

issues. It mentioned Ukraine just once.

"We note with appreciation relevant proposals of mediation

and good offices, aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict

through dialogue and diplomacy," the Kazan declaration said.

The toughest language was reserved for the Middle East,

calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and

denounced Israeli "attacks against humanitarian operations,

facilities, personnel and distribution points."

On alternative payment systems, there was little detail,

though BRICS leaders expressed an interest in developing them

and ordered central bankers to report back under the next

presidency.

"The trend for the BRICS' leading role in the global economy

will only strengthen," Putin said, citing population growth,

urbanization, capital accumulation, and productivity growth as

key factors.

China and India buy about 90% of Russia's oil - Moscow's

biggest foreign currency earner. Russia is the world's second

largest oil exporter.

The leaders said they would seek to further develop BRICS'

institutional development, but gave little clarity on whether or

not BRICS would be expanded.

Putin said that more than 30 states had expressed interest

in joining the group but that it was important to strike a

balance in any expansion.

"I will take the BRICS group seriously when I see signs that

the two countries that really matter, China and India, actually

really trying to agree on things, rather than effectively trying

to confront each other all the time," O'Neill said.