MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. It is impossible to imagine the architecture of international relations without the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) association, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"We believe it is indisputable that BRICS as a multifaceted and multilateral association has completed its formation stage," he said at the expert discussion titled "BRICS at Ten: Challenges, Achievements and Prospects. "Today one will hardly venture to imagine the architecture of international relations without BRICS."
According to Ryabkov, the total GDP at purchasing power parity reached $44 trillion in 2018. "According to the IMF forecast for 2019, this figure should grow to reach $47.6 trillion. By contrast, a similar forecast for the G7 countries is $42.4 trillion," he said.
The senior Russian diplomat stressed that in a modern, very turbulent and an increasingly unpredictable world, BRICS is "an association that works solely and exclusively on the principles of a common approach to international affairs." "These are, first and foremost, multilateralism, protection of international law and consensus. We never impose anything on anyone," he said.
Some experts say that the BRICS countries are not too active as far as some issues are concerned, Ryabkov went on to say. "We reply to this, ‘[That’s] because the BRICS countries respect each other’s specific national features and specific approaches to various aspects of the current agenda," he said, adding that he regarded that as the association’s strong point.