MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that the BRICS Media Summit will help establish new business and friendly contacts within the group and serve to strengthen relations between member countries.

"I am glad to welcome and wish fruitful work to the participants of the BRICS Media Summit, which has started its work in Moscow. TASS partners from the Asia-Pacific and CIS countries are also taking part in it. I hope that the BRICS Media Summit will become another step toward further strengthening of relations between our countries, will help establish both business and friendly and people-to-people contacts," he said in a video message to the guests of a gala night on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of TASS, who include the participants of the BRICS Media Summit.

Putin said a meeting of the BRICS heads of state will be held in Kazan in October.

"I am sure that thanks to your work, among other things, [the meeting] will receive worthy information coverage," the president went on to say.

Moscow is hosting the BRICS Media Summit from September 13 to 17. The event brings together the heads of leading media outlets from the group’s member states and the countries that have applied to join BRICS. TASS is the organizer of the summit.

About BRICS

BRICS has gone through two waves of expansion since its founding in 2006. In 2011, South Africa joined the original members Brazil, Russia, India and China. In August 2023, six more countries - Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE - were invited to join. Argentina in late December declined to join but the other countries became full members on January 1, 2024.