MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Russia recognizes the importance of African countries' participation in further BRICS events, Oleg Ozerov, Russian Ambassador-at-Large and Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, told TASS.

"Of course, African countries can be invited to some or other BRICS events, especially in view of the decisions to admit a number of African countries, such as Egypt and Ethiopia, to BRICS," Ozerov said. According to him, Moscow assumes that "the participation of African countries in certain BRICS events makes sense."

"Another issue is how it will be solved in practice. We’ll see as we prepared for the next summit [which will be held in Russia in 2024," he pointed out.

Ozerov also recalled that many African countries were invited to the recent BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, which took place at the end of August in the Outreach format. He also stressed that the BRICS enlargement process "will not stop at this point" as "there are other countries that are ready" to become members of the association.