Russia plans to invite numerous leaders from countries and regional organizations of the Global South to the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nizhny Novgorod and the BRICS summit in Kazan. Sergey Lavrov, the candidate for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, made this announcement during a plenary session of the Federation Council as consultations on his reappointment concluded.
"One of the most important tasks is to establish dialogue with countries interested in rapprochement with BRICS, with interest ranging widely—from full membership to establishing working, partnership relations," - Lavrov noted. - "There are about 30 such countries, and the question of how to strengthen dialogue with them will be among the main political priorities of Russia's BRICS chairmanship this year. We intend to invite a large number of countries and leaders of regional organizations from the Global South to events organized by foreign policy departments in Nizhny Novgorod and also to the summit in Kazan."
Priorities of Russia's chairmanship
Lavrov highlighted that Russia's main strategic task during its BRICS chairmanship is ensuring the smooth integration of all BRICS mechanisms for new members, who became full participants from January 1. "These are Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia," he stated. "This crucial task requires daily efforts and is already actively ongoing across various sectors, progressing well."
Another fundamental task Lavrov mentioned is enhancing foreign policy coordination on multilateral platforms, specifically the Group of Twenty and the United Nations. "To intensify work on foreign policy coordination and to direct it towards more concrete actions, we will use the upcoming BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nizhny Novgorod in June. This important event will be held for the first time in an expanded format. Our focus will be on international cooperation and coordination."
Among the priorities of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship, Lavrov emphasized addressing new challenges and threats such as terrorism, drug trafficking, cybercrime, corruption, and money laundering. "Relevant sectoral structures operate within BRICS in all these areas," he noted. "Overall, this year we have planned about 200 events across all BRICS activities, covering practically all areas of state interaction, from politics and security to healthcare, sports, culture, and the arts."
About BRICS
Since its founding in 2006, the BRICS group has undergone two expansions. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, and China. As of January 1, 2024, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia joined the group.
Russia is chairing BRICS this year. The Foreign Ministers' meeting will be held in Nizhny Novgorod in June, and the BRICS summit will take place in Kazan in October. Lavrov also mentioned that participants in last year's BRICS summit in Johannesburg decided to form a new category—partner countries—which will replace the existing BRICS+ interaction format.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS