BRICS driving global economic growth – Putin: As it happened

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived for the expanded BRICS+ session in New Delhi on the second and final day of the bloc’s summit.

Leaders of ten BRICS partner countries are joining the bloc’s full members for the meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is addressing leaders and representatives from BRICS member and partner countries at an expanded BRICS+ session on the final day of the bloc’s summit in New Delhi.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, confirmed the UAE’s willingness to host talks on settling the Ukraine conflict during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on Saturday, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said.

He added that it would be “quite acceptable” to Moscow, for the Gulf nation to serve as a venue for peace negotiations.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said progress had been made toward scheduling another three-way meeting between Russia, Ukraine and the US following his and Jared Kushner’s visits to Moscow and Kiev last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Moscow hopes the trilateral talks will resume “in the foreseeable future,” while noting that no concrete plans for the next meeting have yet been agreed upon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan holding a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. ©  Kristina Solovyova

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on BRICS countries to strengthen their ability to respond to emerging crises, warning that growing global tensions and disruptions increasingly affect ordinary people.

Speaking at the BRICS+ session in New Delhi on Sunday, Modi pointed to pandemics, climate disasters and supply-chain disruptions, arguing that in an interconnected world, crises are no longer confined to individual regions.

“We have placed special emphasis on enhancing resilience within the BRICS group,” Modi said. “It is equally essential to identify challenges in a timely manner, remain prepared for them, and take immediate action.”

He announced that members had reached consensus on a “BRICS Integrated Early Warning System” for preventing and responding to infectious diseases and had formulated “Early Warning Data Integration Guidelines” for disaster management.

Modi said that the strength of BRICS lies in its “diversity and cooperation.”

“We may be rooted in different realities, but together we rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity. May our diversity remain our identity, our cooperation serve as our inspiration, and our progress benefit all of humanity,” he said.

According to Modi, the trust of the Global South nations in BRICS has grown in recent years because “their voices are heard, their experiences are respected and solutions are crafted not just for them, but with them.”

International interest in BRICS “continues to grow,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, pointing to the broad participation in the BRICS+ session in New Delhi.

“For many around the world, our fundamental values and ideals are attractive,” Putin said, citing a commitment to pursuing an “independent and autonomous course” and a desire for “collective solutions to problems based on international law and the key provisions of the UN Charter.”

Putin said BRICS+ meetings provide an opportunity for “direct and open dialogue” between the group’s full members, partner countries and other states and multilateral organizations interested in cooperation.

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is also attending the BRICS summit, has said that he appreciates the “strong support” for WHO by the bloc’s leader and their commitment to promoting universal medical coverage and creating resilient health systems in their countries.

Putin said BRICS provides the “main impetus” for global GDP growth, accounting for 49%.

“The potential for further development of BRICS is far from exhausted,” Putin said, describing the “complementarity of the economies of the member countries” as one of the group’s main untapped resources.

”Differences in their structure and specialization provide broad opportunities for practical cooperation,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attending the BRICS+ session at the bloc's summit in New Delhi. © Sputnik / Alexander Kazakov

The foreign ministers of Russia, China and Iran – Sergey Lavrov, Wang Yi and Abbas Araghchi – share a friendly chat on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, in a video released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has departed India after his participation in the BRICS summit in New Delhi. “China and India should be partners, not rivals,” Xi said during his first visit to the country in seven years.