MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS. Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (Parliament) Zhao Leji has arrived in Moscow to participate in a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Commission and the BRICS Parliamentary Forum, the Duma press service reported.

"On Tuesday, July 9, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji arrived in Moscow. Zhao Leji was met at the gangway by First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov," the statement reads.

It noted that on Tuesday evening Zhao Leji and Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin will hold an informal meeting, during which they will visit major Moscow landmarks. In addition, a bilateral meeting between the State Duma Speaker and the head of the Chinese parliament will be held on July 10, as well as the ninth meeting of the interparliamentary commission on cooperation between the Russian Federal Assembly and the National People's Congress. On July 11-12, Zhao Leji will also take part in the BRICS Parliamentary Forum in St. Petersburg.

Russia assumed the one-year rotating chairmanship of BRICS on January 1, 2024. Since its inception in 2006, the BRICS has experienced two phases of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the original group, which included Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Argentina was one of six new members invited to join the association in August 2023, but it declined at the end of December. On January 1, 2024, five new members of the association began full-time work in BRICS — Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.