BRICS summit kicks off in Brazil

Russian President Vladimir Putin has joined the plenary session of the group’s 17th summit via videolink

Russian President Vladimir Putin is delivering a speech at the plenary session of the 17th BRICS summit. The annual two-day gathering of the group kicked off on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which currently holds the group’s rotating presidency. 

This year, the Russian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Putin has joined the plenary session – ‘Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic-Financial Affairs, and Artificial Intelligence’ – via videolink.

Brazil has named six priorities for this year’s agenda – global health cooperation; trade, investment, and finance; climate change; AI governance; reform of the multilateral peace and security system; and institutional development within BRICS.

This year’s summit brings together around 4,000 participants from 37 nations, including senior dignitaries from member states, partner countries, and international bodies.

BRICS was founded, primarily as an economic group, in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Over the past year, the bloc extended full membership to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. 

Last year, at the group’s summit in the Russian city of Kazan, BRICS approved a new ‘partner country’ status in response to a growing membership interest shown by more than 30 countries.