ASTANA, May 20. /TASS/. Russia expects Kazakhstan to accept the invitation to take part in the event for BRICS partner countries as part of the summit in Kazan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

"We are surely preparing the BRICS summit to take place this October in Kazan. We expect Kazakhstan to reply positively to our invitation to take part in the event for [BRICS] partner countries," he said.

Russia assumed the one-year rotating chairmanship of BRICS on January 1, 2024. On Moscow’s watch, around 250 events are planned, with the summit that is to take place in October in Kazan in Russia’s Volga region, to be the central one.

Since its inception in 2006, the BRICS has experienced two phases of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Argentina was one of six new members invited to join the association in August 2023, but it declined at the end of December. On January 1, 2024, five new members of the association began full-time work in BRICS - Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.