Annual BRICS summit gets underway in Brazil

The event is expected to attract some 4,000 people from 37 member-nations, partner states, and international organizations

The 17th annual BRICS summit has opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency. The two-day event will address global development and governance, international policy, and multilateral cooperation.

While no official attendee list has been published, Brazilian officials say over 4,000 participants from 37 countries are expected this year, including senior representatives from member states, partners, and international bodies.

Brasilia has outlined six priorities for this year’s agenda: global health cooperation; trade, investment, and finance; climate change; AI governance; reform of the multilateral peace and security system; and institutional development within BRICS. Rio Deputy Mayor Eduardo Cavalieri earlier said the city has officially offered to host a permanent BRICS headquarters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia in person, while President Vladimir Putin will join the summit’s plenary session via video link.

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China’s delegation will be led by Prime Minister Li Qiang, as President Xi Jinping has a “scheduling conflict,” marking his first absence at the summit in 12 years. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will also skip the event. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have already arrived, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is expected to attend.

BRICS was founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2011. Over the past year, full membership was extended to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE, and Indonesia. The bloc now represents nearly half the global population and about 40% of the world’s GDP in terms of purchasing power parity, surpassing the G7. At last year’s summit in the Russian city of Kazan, the group approved a new ‘partner country’ status in response to growing membership interest from over 30 nations.

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The summit’s main event, a plenary session called ‘Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic-Financial Affairs, and Artificial Intelligence’ is scheduled for 4 pm local time (7 p.m. GMT) on Sunday.