MOSCOW – The leaders of 24 countries will attend this month’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, a top Kremlin aide said yesterday. Yury Ushakov, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, told journalists that 24 countries will be represented “at leader level” and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will participate.

The summit of emerging economies starts 22 October in the city on the River Volga.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to attend, as is Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, making his first visit to Russia since he took office this summer.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to attend after Turkey requested to join the group of emerging economies.
“The summit in Kazan could turn into the largest-scale foreign policy event that has ever been held in our country,” Ushakov claimed.
The group takes its name from the initial letters of the five members who joined in 2009 — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — but has since expanded to include Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.
Ushakov said that leaders of 38 countries had been invited in total, with nine sending senior officials.
All the leaders of the regional CIS bloc of ex-Soviet countries would attend, he added.
The summit will start with informal meetings on 22 October followed by a formal summit on 23-24 October, Ushakov said.
Putin will also hold “around” 20 bilateral meetings, starting 21 October and finishing 24 October, Ushakov said.
There will also be a business forum held ahead of the summit in Moscow on October 18, with Putin giving a speech.
Russia last hosted a BRICS summit in 2015 in the city of Ufa. 

– Nampa/AFP