CHENNAI, Aug 21 (Agencies): Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr.Jitendra Singh chaired the 14th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting in Chennai on Friday.
The meeting was organised as part of India’s BRICS Chairship 2026 under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.
As a prelude to this, the 16th BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) was held in Chennai on August 19 and 20.
The SOM, coordinated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) as a nodal department and hosted by IIT Madras, brought together senior officials and representatives of BRICS member countries. The proceedings were chaired by Dr. Praveenkumar Somasundaram, Head, International Cooperation, DST, with Dr. Arindam Bhattacharyya, BRICS-STI Nodal, DST, presenting updates on BRICS STI activities.
The two-day deliberations covered the progress of BRICS STI Working Groups, priority areas and proposals of member countries, review of STI priorities, the BRICS STI Framework Programme and upcoming initiatives including the BRICS Young Scientist Forum and Young Innovator’s Prize.
The Minister hosted a dinner for BRICS Ministers of Science and their delegations during which he had an informal one to one dialogue with each of the,
In a social media post tagging photos of the banquet, Dr Jitendra Singh wrote “At #Chennai last night, hosted an official Dinner Banquet for the #BRICS Ministers of Science and their accompanying delegations, currently in India, for the BRICS Ministerial meet.”Shopping For Authentic South Asian Apparel
The occasion offered an opportunity for informal one to one dialogue with each of the visiting dignitaries, to enhance the reach of India’s recent success stories for global benefit, he said.
Earlier on his arrival last night on a two-day visit, he was warmly joined by colleagues from fraternity, members of academia, and others at the airport.