MINSK, August 25. /TASS/. The West’s attempts to set the BRICS nations against each other and discredit their latest summit have totally failed, Russian Ambassador to Minsk Boris Gryzlov told TASS on Friday.

"It would not be an exaggeration to describe the results of the BRICS’ 15th summit in South Africa as historic. It attracted a lot of attention and yielded decisions that will definitely influence the global agenda and what is going on in the world. And, despite the fact that the collective West made serious efforts to discredit the summit, to set the five member countries against each other, these attempts have totally failed," Gryzlov, who is also chairman of the Supreme Council of Russia’s ruling United Russia party, said.

Russia and its BRICS partners "have taken a big step toward forming a new multipolar world order," he said, adding that the summit’s major outcome was the accession of six new countries, namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, from January 1, 2024. He also recalled that Russia will take over the presidency of the association next year.

"Russia, which held the first summit of the four founding nations in 2009, will now host the first summit of 11 member states. Next year, the BRICS’ members will more than double, which obviously runs counter to the plans of the association’s opponents," Gryzlov stressed.

He noted the "obviously important role" of Russia’s leading parties in promoting BRICS’ economic and infrastructure projects. "I think that we will discuss issues on interparty cooperation in this area, including to counter hybrid threats and other forms of Western and NATO aggression, at a United Russia Supreme Council Bureau meeting some time this year. It will help elaborate new initiatives on all main areas of cooperation between BRICS states: politics and security, the economy and finance, culture and humanitarian ties," he said.

Apart from that, in his words, Russia’s presidency will draw on the experience of such integration formats as the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the Eurasian Economic Union. "We have always helped and will continue to help our partners and friends in establishing lines of communication and joint work on the international track. This is necessary for strengthening the multipolar world," he added.

The BRICS summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22 to 24, 2023 and was chaired by South Africa. With the leaders of 54 African nations in attendance, this was the biggest meeting of the heads of state and government of the Global South in recent years. Participants in the summit agreed that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will join the association from January 1, 2024. A new list of possible members will be compiled by the next BRICS summit. According to South Africa’s Ambassador at Large for Asia and BRICS Affairs and BRICS Sherpa Anil Sooklal, around 30 countries are interested in joining the association and some of them have officially applied for membership.