RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26. /TASS/. The next BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit due to be held in the Brazilian capital city on November 13-14 will be another step towards strengthening this multilateral format, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday ahead of a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Ernesto Araujo.

"We had a very open and sincere discussion that yielded a joint statement reiterating our commitment to the United Nations Charter. We have no doubts that the summit in November will be yet another step towards consolidation of this format," he said.

The Brazilian top diplomat, in turn, pledged that his country would spare no effort to ensure successful presidency in the association.

"We reached progress on many issues at this meeting and found understanding on the majority of topics. We value our relations with Russia. Brazil is now living through a period when we are trying to become a country more open to the world," Araujo said.