Putin, Lavrov speak at BRICS summit in Brazil: As it happened

RT.com
06 Jul 2025, 20:19 GMT+10

The event brings together some 4,000 participants from 37 countries and international organizations

The 17th annual BRICS summit kicked off on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which currently holds the group's rotating presidency. The two-day event is dedicated to multilateral cooperation, as well as various global development and governance issues.

Brazil has named 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.

This year's summit brings together around 4,000 participants from 37 nations, including senior dignitaries from member states, partner countries, and international bodies, according to earlier estimates by Brazilian officials.

This year, the Russian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. President Vladimir Putin has joined the plenary session - 'Strengthening Multilateralism, Economic-Financial Affairs, and Artificial Intelligence' - via video link.

BRICS was founded, primarily as an economic group in 2006, by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Over the past year, the bloc extended full membership to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia.

Last year, at the group's summit in the Russian city of Kazan, BRICS approved a new 'partner country' status in response to a growing membership interest shown by more than 30 countries.

This live feed has ended.

(RT.com)

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Cape Town Express.

More Information

null in null

International

Section

Moscow removes Taliban from banned list, grants official status

MOSCOW, Russia: This week, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan since...

Netanyahu vows 'No Hamas' in postwar Gaza amid peace talks

CAIRO, Egypt: This week, both Hamas and Israel shared their views ahead of expected peace talks about a new U.S.-backed ceasefire plan....

US sends message by publicizing visa ban on UK punk-rap band

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has made public a visa decision that would usually be kept private. It did this to send...

Tragedy in Spain: Diogo Jota and his brother die in car accident

MADRID, Spain: Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, have died in a car accident in Spain. Spanish...

Early heatwave grips Europe, leaving 8 dead and nations on alert

LONDON, U.K.: An unrelenting heatwave sweeping across Europe has pushed early summer temperatures to historic highs, triggering deadly...

U.S. military, China, Russia in Space race

President Donald Trump's plans to build a space-based Golden Dome missile defense shield have drawn immediate criticism from China,...

South Africa

Section