ZVENIGOROD /Moscow region/, June 27. /TASS/. The upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan will continue the tradition of dialogue with developing countries, a number of such meetings will be held on its sidelines, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in his article for the international edition of the Russian Security Index Yearbook 2024-2025.

"BRICS summit, scheduled for October 2024, will be the culmination of the Russian year in BRICS. We intend to continue the tradition of organizing on its sidelines the meetings with developing countries," the deputy foreign minister noted.

According to him, BRICS members believe that "the cooperation within the BRICS framework will enable the voice of the global South to be clearly heard in the international arena" as well as "to defend our own national interests."

Since its inception in 2006, the BRICS has experienced two phases of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group, which included 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.

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.

The presentation of the Russian Security Index Yearbook 2024-2025 took place in Zvenigorod, Moscow region. Its co-publishers are MGIMO University and PIR Center.