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BRICS expansion to strengthen group and increase its weight on world stage — Lavrov

It is also noted that coordination within BRICS on foreign policy issues was also expanding

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. Expansion of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) will allow the group to increase its political weight in the global arena, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.

"One of the key issues on the agenda of the upcoming [BRICS] summit in Johannesburg this month will be the expansion of BRICS, which will undoubtedly significantly strengthen this grouping and increase its weight in global affairs," he said.

The top Russian diplomat underscored the rapid growth in the authority and appeal of BRICS, within which, in his words, "countries with diverse political systems and distinctive values set an example of multipolar diplomacy aimed at harmonizing [relations] on an equal basis [grounded in] effective forms of trade, economic, investment and humanitarian cooperation, [and] forms [of cooperation] that are protected from any external diktat," adding that coordination [within BRICS] on foreign policy issues was also expanding.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov BRICS

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