KAZAN, October 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue the series of bilateral meeting on the final day of the BRICS Summit in Kazan.

His program for the upcoming day includes talks with at least five foreign leaders, as well as with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Apart from bilateral meetings, the president will take part in the plenary meeting in the Outreach/BRICS Plus format, which will be attended by delegates from neary 40 countries.

Focus on Middle East

Talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will open the series of Putin’s bilateral meetings. Their previous meeting took place during Abbas’ visit to Moscow in August.

The two presidents are expected to discuss both bilateral cooperation and the current situation in the Middle East. They will exchange views of measures that are to be taken to stop bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and resume the negotiating process. Russia has repeatedly stressed that it stands for a political and diplomatic solution of the conflict and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state that would co-exist with Israel in peace and security.

This topic was highlighted in the final declaration that was passed on Wednesday. The leaders condemned Israel’s attacks on humanitarian centers and infrastructure facilities, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages without preliminary conditions, and called on all parties to show restraint.

Southeast Asia as a priority

After talks with Abbas, Putin will meet with Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith. This will be their second meeting this year. The last met in Moscow in May.

According to the Kremlin, the two presidents will discuss the development of bilateral ties, as well as the Russia-ASEAN partnership in the light of Laos’ presidency of the organization. Putin noted earlier that cooperation with ASEAN is one of priorities of "Russia’s foreign policy in Asia."

Russia-Africa dialogue

Later in the day, the Russian president will meet with President of Mauritania and President of the African Union Mohamed Ahmed Ould Ghazouani, who visited Russian in 2019 to attend the first Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.

Russia and Mauritania develop cooperation in the economic and cultural-and-humanitarian spheres. They also maintain regular political dialogue and are working on a number of joint documents in various spheres.

Russia also maintains close relations with the African Union, which took part in two Russia-Africa summits, in 2019 in Sochi and in 2023 in St. Petersburg. Russia’s trade with Africa grew by 30% last year to reach $24.5 billion.

Partner in South America

Bolivian President Luis Arce will be the next to meet with the Russian leader. Putin and Arce have already met this year: they held bilateral talks on June 6 and took part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on the following day.

The ABI agency said earlier, citing the Bolivian ambassador to Russia that the Bolivian leader plans to discuss with Putin a wide range of issues, including such topics as nuclear energy, climate change, and cooperation in the area of education.

Russia and Bolivia have similar approaches to the key issues of global politics, including sovereign equality of states, the supremacy of law, the indivisibility of security and inadmissibility of interference into domestic affairs of states.

Special guest

Special place in Putin’s schedule is allocated to a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief visited Russia last time in 2022. Back then, along with Putin, he met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, speaker of the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Putin and Guterres are expected to discuss issues of the United Nations’ activities, as well as international problems, including the Middle East crisis and the situation in Ukraine.

Strategic partner

Talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will be the last bilateral meeting on Putin’s schedule. Earlier this year, the Russian president visited Hanoi and held talks with the four top Vietnamese officials: the president, secretary general of the Communist party’s central committee, prime minister, and parliament speaker.

Putin and Pham Minh Chinh are expected to discuss current issues of and prospects for the further development of practical cooperation between the two countries. Moscow and Hanoi share approaches to many global and regional problems, the Kremlin noted.

About the summit

The 16th BRICS Summit, which is the key event of Russia’s chairmanship in the association, is being held in Kazan on October 22-24. The BRICS group was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining it in 2011.

On January 1, 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became its full-fledged members. On the same day, Russia assumed one-year rotating chairmanship of BRICS.

On the first day of the summit, Putin met with his counterparts from the BRICS founding nations, namely India, China, and South Africa. Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva could not arrive in Russia because of a head injury, but took part in a meeting on the second day of the summit via a video link.

On Wednesday, Putin held a series of bilateral meetings with the presidents of Iran, Venezuela, and Turkey, and well as with the Ethiopian prime minister. The BRICS leaders also held general meetings and adopted the Kazan declaration.