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Russia proposes to create geological platform of BRICS countries — ministry

It is noted that Russia and South Africa will discuss steps to create a geological platform at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on March 30 in Pretoria
Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Russia proposed to create a geological platform of the BRICS countries, which will strengthen geological cooperation of the bloc member states. This is according to a statement by the Russian Natural Resources Ministry released after a meeting of Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov and head of Council for Geoscience of South Africa Mosa Mabuza.

BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"Mr. Mosa Mabuza supported our proposal to create the BRICS geological platform," Kozlov wrote on his Telegram channel following negotiations with the representative of South Africa.

The minister explained that the platform will strengthen the cooperation of the geological services of the BRICS countries: Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. "We will all receive data on each other’s mineral reserves and mining technologies. This is important because the demand for the mineral resources of the new economy is growing by leaps and bounds: platinum, copper, aluminum, nickel, lithium, cobalt, rare earth metals. We all need exploration of new territories, taking into account the experience, technology and knowledge of each other," the minister said as quoted in the statement.

The minister added that Russia and South Africa will discuss steps to create a geological platform at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on March 30 in Pretoria.

The Natural Resources Ministry clarified that the first steps in creating the platform should include an expert meeting and a meeting of the heads of geological services of the BRICS countries. After that, a memorandum is to be prepared and a cooperation program approved. "It should include specific areas, forms and types of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation, depending on the goals of each BRICS country," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the head of Federal Agency on Subsoil Usage Evgeny Petrov, whose words are also quoted in the ministry’s statement, the promising areas for joint geological exploration will be regional geological research, new technologies in geology, including remote sensing, digital control, resource classification.

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