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Kabul: Commentary forwarded by Russian Ambassador in Afghanistan Dmitriy Zhirnov regarding interview of Yury Ushakov, the foreign policy aide to the Russian president!
Russia took the rotating presidency of the BRICS group in 2024. Yury Ushakov, Russian presidential foreign policy aide, referring to Vladimir Putin comments on the occasion of the beginning of Russia’s BRICS Presidency, in 2024 said that cooperation within BRICS is undoubtedly one of the key features of Russia’s long-term foreign policy. Interaction with the association’s members meets the fundamental national interests of Russia and fits in well with the country’s systematic policy of forming a fair multipolar world order and creating equal opportunities for all countries to develop.
By the way, BRICS has already surpassed the Group of Seven in terms of purchasing power parity: the group accounts for 35.6% of the global GDP, while the G7 accounts for 30.3%. By 2028, the situation will evolve further in BRICS favor: 36.6% versus 27.8%.
The collective share of the member states in the global economy is $58.9 trillion. BRICS accounts for more than one-third of the Earth’s dry land (36%), 45% of the world’s population (3.6 billion), over 40% of all oil production, and about a quarter of the world’s exports of goods.
Such a high prestige and a really serious constructive role of BRICS in the world economy and politics naturally attract the attention of other countries, which have begun to show a desire to join the association’s activities in one way or another.
This is the case with the new BRICS members that have already been admitted. However, the number of those wishing to establish some cooperation with our association continues to grow. Whereas by the Johannesburg summit, as I mentioned above, there were just over twenty of them, today we have received a number of new applications. Although it is premature to speculate about a second “wave” of expansion, all the countries of the association agree that the interest toward BRICS, displayed by many countries can only be welcomed and encouraged. This clearly demonstrates that the principles on which our association operates are very close to a wide range of countries, in fact, to the global majority.
💬 Yuri Ushakov added that the collective west certainly not delighted to see the BRICS growing authority and influence. They are outspokenly jealous about its expansion, as well as about the fact that the countries of the Global Majority would like to unite more closely for cooperation on the BRICS platform. We have seen considerable evidence of the Western opponents trying to hamstring and weaken this association.
He noted that the Russian Presidency will focus on issues related to further strengthening strategic partnership between member states in the fields of trade, investment, innovative technologies and social affairs. The common goal is to create conditions for the steady economic growth of all BRICS nations. We will search for the best ways to increase mutual trade and investment, as well as to address ways to ensure financial stability.
We see increasing the role of BRICS counties in the international currency and financial system as a specific task for this year. Work will continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar. We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main issue is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics.
As for science and innovation, measures will be taken to implement the Cooperation Agreement on the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation and promote the Russia-developed Code of Ethics for Artificial Intelligence. We plan to do everything possible to facilitate cooperation between our countries’ science parks and business incubators based on the iBRICS Innovation Network.
As for the important field of healthcare, we will continue efforts to promote the Russian initiative to launch the Integrated Early Warning System to Prevent Risk of Mass Infectious Diseases.
He meanwhile asserted that Russia’s BRICS Presidency does feature quite a broad agenda addressing political and security cooperation and said that BRICS does not have plans to build military cooperation, including military drills.
I would like to point out that BRICS cooperation in the field of politics and security is free of ideological bias and double standards but is based on respect for the sovereignty of member states and the principle of non-interference in their domestic affairs.
BRICS members are committed to settling differences and disputes through dialogue and consultations and support all efforts that facilitate the peaceful resolutions of crises. We seek to contribute to strengthening the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and jointly stand for preventing the deployment of weapons and an arms race in space.
In the field of the fight against terrorism, we plan to actively use the relevant BRICS task force, doing everything possible to facilitate the implementation of the BRICS Anti-Terrorism Strategy adopted in 2020 during the previous Russian Presidency.
In comparison between BRICS and other international platform like G20 and G7 Ushakov said that Russia has never set BRICS in opposition to other international platforms, be it the Group of 20 or the Group of Seven. However, we believe that the association is unique. BRICS is a self-sustaining mechanism, which, as it has been repeatedly pointed out, plays one of the leading roles in shaping the global agenda.
Moreover, in all of their actions, statements and declarations, as well as in practice, BRICS nations show openness to a fair and equal dialogue. Together, we call for building horizontal network ties between various regional and sub-regional integration processes in Eurasian, African and Latin American countries. It is particularly about platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). By the way, the EAEU maintains robust cooperation with its Chinese partners, particularly in implementing Beijing’s Belt and Road project.
In conclusion he asserted that BRICS countries really, practically express the interests of the Global Majority.
