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BRICS newcomers already making impact — Lavrov

The top Russian diplomat stated that bringing in a wide range of developing countries to cooperate with BRICS "will help to further consolidate efforts of the world majority to solve common problems in the common interest"

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. The new BRICS member states that officially joined the association on January 1, 2024, are already making valuable contributions across the board, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Harmonious integration of new participants into the existing BRICS mechanisms is among the main priorities of the Russian presidency this year. We are doing our best in this regard," Lavrov said at a meeting with legislators from BRICS states’ parliamentary committees on international affairs.

"We can see from the outcome of the events at the level of sherpas, sous-sherpas and other formats that the newcomers are already making their unique contribution to our common work in all major areas on the agenda," the top diplomat added.

Lavrov stated that bringing in a wide range of developing countries to cooperate with BRICS "will help to further consolidate efforts of the world majority to solve common problems in the common interest." "We expect that this activity will grow and in the very near future it will translate into new practical initiatives to be considered by our association," he stressed.

The BRICS group of nations has seen two waves of expansion since it was founded in 2006. In 2011, South Africa joined the initial group, which included Brazil, Russia, India and China. In August 2023, six new members were invited to join the association at once, but Argentina declined to join at the end of December. The five new members of the group - Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia - began full-fledged work in BRICS on January 1, 2024.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov BRICS

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