BRASILIA, August 2. /TASS/. The BRICS group (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is likely to play an ‘exceptional role’ in world affairs, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

"From my point of view, BRICS can play, I would say, an exceptional role in global affairs," he said at a meeting with foreign media, emphasizing that he pins "high hopes" on the BRICS upcoming summit, due to be held in Johannesburg in late August.

The president advocates for the economic and political strengthening of BRICS, whose role, in his opinion, is to help the poorest nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Brazilian leader believes that the Group of Seven (G7) is obsolete and that it should have been abolished after the Group of Twenty (G20) was established.