Beijing and Moscow are working on the issue of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s participation in the upcoming BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Russian state news agencies reported on Wednesday, citing Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui.
“Both countries are maintaining close contacts on this issue,” TASS news agency cited the ambassador as saying.
“The state visit of President Putin to the People’s Republic of China will be the focal event of this year in bilateral relations, while in October we expect the PRC President to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a meeting of the Foreign Ministry’s Council of the Heads of Constituent Entities to the Russian Federation.
At the ongoing Eastern Economic Forum, Dmitry Prokhorenko, Foreign Network Development Director at the Russian Export Center, highlighted Russian companies’ growing interest in BRICS markets. He emphasized that BRICS nations have the potential to advance their economies by reducing reliance on the dollar, enhancing trade relations among themselves, and boosting mutual goods flows.
On January 1, Russia began its term as the rotating president of the BRICS group, now comprising ten countries. Since its establishment in 2006, BRICS has seen two waves of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the initial group, which included Brazil, Russia, India and China.
In August 2023, six new members were invited to join the association at once, but Argentina declined to join at the end of December. The five new members of the group – Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia – began full-fledged work in BRICS on January 1, 2024.
The summit of the BRICS group of developing nations is to take place in October.
(With inputs from Reuters)
