CARACAS, February 21. /TASS/. Moscow is aware of Caracas’ interest in boosting ties with BRICS and will facilitate the process as the group’s chair, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"We know that our Venezuelan friends are interested in closer ties with BRICS and Russia will facilitate the process as the group’s chair this year," he said.

Russia assumed BRICS’ one-year rotating chairmanship on January 1, 2024, and plans to hold over 200 events as the group’s chair. BRICS’ summit is set to take place in Kazan in October.

The BRICS group has expanded twice since being created in 2006. South Africa joined the four founding nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - in 2011. Six more countries, namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were invited to become BRICS members in August 2023. However, Buenos Aires abandoned the idea in late December. BRICS currently brings together ten member states.