MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Russia has taken its BRICS presidency seriously and succeeded in integrating new members into the group, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.

The official headed the organizing committee for preparing and supporting the country’s BRICS presidency, which Moscow held this year. Brazil will take over on January 1.

"From the very beginning, we took our duties of the presidency very seriously. Building up cooperation with BRICS countries is among Russia's foreign policy priorities. This is enshrined in our country's foreign policy concept," Ushakov said.

According to the diplomat, what is special about the Russian presidency is that Moscow had to support the work of BRICS in a new, expanded format, "to make sure that the new members of the group harmoniously fit into the customary arrangements, customary ways of interaction."

"Practice has shown that we and our partners have handled this task well," the aide said.

Key events

Russia oversaw 250 events as part of its BRICS presidency.

"More than 30 of them were ministerial-level talks. The agenda of these meetings covered both the areas of multifaceted interaction that had been established over the many years of BRICS existence and new areas of cooperation," Ushakov said.

According to the official, the new BRICS members - Egypt, Iran, UAE and Ethiopia - were very actively involved in the work, showed a "constructive approach to the key priorities of the Russian presidency and supported all flagship initiatives." Saudi Arabia was present at many events, but did not participate in the development of documents and joint decision-making.

Russia’s presidency culminated with the BRISCS Summit in the city of Kazan. The outreach event - BRICS Plus - was attended by 41 foreign delegations representing 35 countries and 6 international organizations. Russian President Vladimir Putin had more than 20 bilateral talks.

"Such representative international participants, in our opinion, is very convincing evidence of the keen interest of the global South and East in cooperation within BRICS. The group is turning into a key element of the emerging multipolar world order and is becoming a real unifying force to defend the interests of countries of the global South and East," Ushakov said.

According to the official, BRICS is not only playing an increasing political role in world affairs, but also gains authority in economy, finance, climate affairs, food and energy security.

Ahead of the summit in Kazan, 35 applications were received to join BRICS in one or another capacity. Thirteen countries were offered the status of partners.

According to the Kremlin, the summit in Kazan was a success.

"We will, of course, continue systemic work to strengthen cooperation in the BRICS format. We will try to maintain the momentum of cooperation and do our best to implement the initiatives that were launched under our presidency. Certainly, we will provide assistance to our Brazilian counterparts that will assume the presidency on January 1, 2025," Ushakov said.