MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Russia works to find effective ways of cooperation with other BRICS countries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Chinese and Japanese media.
When asked about the BRICS cooperation mechanisms, he said that "we would like the BRICS mechanisms to be effective in every field."
The Russian deputy foreign minister emphasized the importance of the Chinese initiative to hold ‘BRICS-Plus’ summits. "This is a step away from the usual practice stipulating that outreach meetings involve mostly leaders of the countries from the same region," he explained. "Now we see a new way for dialogue emerge, a global one, and I believe that it fully corresponds with the role that China plays in the organization and on the international stage in general," he added.
The senior Russian diplomat also pointed to the member states’ willingness to build dialogue at various levels and on a wide range of issues. According to Ryabkov, ministerial meetings, including meetings between foreign ministers, reflect the fact that BRICS countries "are really attracted to one another."
Nevertheless, Ryabkov highlighted the need to boost cooperation in drawing up economic regulations. "We believe that BRICS does not do everything it can as far as regulations go, so we need to step up the work aimed at improving standardization rules," he said. "We need to participate in the activities of antimonopoly agencies as there is a lot of work to do in this sphere," Ryabkov added.
The next BRICS summit will take place in China’s Xiamen on September 3-5.
BRICS is an informal association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The group, founded in June 2006 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, seeks to ensure sustainable, open and transparent dialogue and cooperation between member states. The first BRICS summit was held in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in 2009.