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China expects BRICS to develop successfully, diplomat says

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the group has become "an active stabilizing force" for the international community

BEIJING, January 2. /TASS/. Beijing is confident that the BRICS group will continue to develop successfully after its recent expansion, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

"We are fully confident about BRICS’ [successful] development. In the 18 years of its existence, the group has become even more united, and its influence has been growing," the diplomat said at the Foreign Ministry’s first briefing of 2024.

According to him, the group has become "an active stabilizing force" for the international community. "It recently expanded to ten members, which clearly points to the bright prospects for cooperation on the BRICS platform," Wang added.

He also said that the group’s expansion "is in line with the common aspirations of developing countries" and objective historical trends. "By joining forces with our partners, we will work to make sure that our cooperation keeps producing results," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson concluded.

The BRICS group, established in 2006, first expanded in 2011, when South Africa joined the four founding nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Five new members (Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia) formally became full-fledged members of the BRICS group on January 1. Russia assumed BRICS’ one-year rotating chairmanship on the same day.

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