All news

Lavrov: BRICS countries don't force anything on anyone as they do not have bloc discipline

According to the Russian foreign minister bloc discipline is typical for military-political alliances
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma Press Office/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. BRICS countries do not force anything upon others because they do not have bloc discipline typical for military-political alliances, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"The rules in BRICS meet in full the demands of the 21st century when the basis should be equality and culture of seeking consensus," Lavrov told the BRICS Global University Summit at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

"BRICS do not force anything on anyone. We do not have bloc discipline typical for military-political alliances," he stressed. "We want to seek additional sources of developing and increasing the well-being of our peoples," the foreign minister added.

"We are interested in maintaining international stability and facilitating multilateral cooperation," Lavrov said. "We support strengthening UN’s central coordinating role, and we do not accept attempts to solve problems from the position of force, interference into internal affairs. We stand against unilateral sanctions," he stressed.

"We are promoting an initiative on developing a draft roadmap for trade and investment cooperation. We jointly support the fulfillment of agreements on reforming global monetary and financial system," the foreign minister said.

Lavrov added that New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement "should make important contributions to strengthening international financial stability."

BRICS, an informal association of five fast-developing countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - was founded in June 2006. Its first official summit was held in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg. Since then BRICS summits are held every year in the participating countries alternately. The latest summit was held on July 8 and July 9 in Ufa.