MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Russia and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, known as CELAC, plan to resume soon the ministerial dialogue mechanism to coordinate policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"Relations with Latin America are on the rise," he said at a news conference dedicated to an overview of Russian diplomacy in 2022. "We have established a ministerial mechanism for Russia and CELAC to coordinate our approaches. In the format of Russia and four CELAC countries, it met a couple of times, but then it all had to be put off due to COVID-related restrictions, but we will resume that cooperation in the near future."

The minister reaffirmed Russia is interested in mutually beneficial cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean states and strengthening the unity of this vast region.

"Brazil has said it’s returning to CELAC and that will make it possible to resume the activities of regional group in the near future," he went on to say. "We hope CELAC will raise its voice in the process of addressing the key challenges that arise in the course of shaping up the multipolar world that we all are talking about."

"Probably, if we talk about the interests of the entire Latin American region, it would be useful for CELAC to consider those issues that are on the agenda of BRICS, so that the Latin American countries participating in the BRICS group also reflect the interests of their partners in the community," Lavrov said.

The minister said that in addition to Brazil, which is a member of BRICS, Argentina and some other Latin American countries also announced their intentions to join the group.

"We are ready to cooperate at this stage through the BRICS+ format," he said. "There is an understanding about this regard among the five members. Together with our Chinese friends, we are actively working to agree on criteria for other countries to be able to join the BRICS countries in working together.".