Putin to attend events of BRICS summit final day

JOHANNESBURG, July 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to take part in the events of the BRICS summit’s final day on Friday. Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold two sessions, and one of them will be devoted to the strategic partnership issues. Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said earlier the meeting participants would exchange views on possible expansion of the association. However, no decisions on this matter are expected to be made at the Johannesburg summit, Ushakov noted. The BRICS leaders will also hold a separate session with representatives from African nations and chairpersons-in-office of a number of sectoral and regional associations. Among the nations invited to the session are Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Other participants in the outreach format session will include Argentina (current president in the G20), Turkey (holding presidency in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Jamaica (the Caribbean Community). When wrapping up his visit to the Republic of South Africa, Putin will talk to Russian mass media representatives. Forum’s first day On Thursday, Putin held a series of bilateral meetings, including with the summit’s host, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. After the talks the presidents signed a joint statement on strategic partnership between Russia and the Republic of South Africa and two industrial agreements. In the afternoon, Putin talked to the presidents of Argentina, Zambia and Turkey and also with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at one of the summit’s sessions, Putin stressed that ensuring security of the society, businesses and citizens is important amid digitalization across the globe. Putin also called for creating comfortable conditions in BRICS countries for investments into high-technology branches of the economy. The leaders passed the Johannesburg Declaration summing up their joint activity during South Africa’s presidency and over the past decade, outlining the agreed approaches to the association’s further development. The BRICS leaders intend to jointly address common traditional and non-traditional security challenges and confirmed their commitment to the principles of mutual respect, sovereign equality, democracy, inclusiveness and boosting cooperation. The heads of state said they are determined to work together with the goal of strengthening the principles of multilateralism and the rule of law in international relations and contribute to establishing a fair, equal, democratic and representative world order. The document also mentions certain regional conflicts. The leaders of BRICS member-states believe that the status of Jerusalem should be determined through talks between Israel and Palestine, the declaration says. With regard to the situation in Gaza, the leaders reiterate their support to the UN General Assembly Resolution on the protection of the Palestinian population and called for its full implementation. The BRICS leaders also confirmed their commitment to the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula by peaceful means. They expressed their concern over the possibility of an arms race in outer space and underlined the need to launch multilateral talks on an international convention on fighting against chemical and biological terrorism, including in the framework of the UN Conference on Disarmament. Read more