The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are deepening their cooperation on the entire agenda with the bloc’s authority growing year by year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at the BRICS summit held in a videoconference format.

“The countries of our bloc are deepening cooperation on the entire range of issues on the global and regional agenda. And every year the authority of the BRICS and its influence on the global stage is steadily increasing,” the Russian leader said.

Putin also pointed out that this is an objective process, since the five countries have a truly great economic, scientific, technological and human potential. They can effectively work together to ensure international stability and security, sustainable growth and prosperity and the well-being of their people.

The Russian president added that Moscow considers the theme of today’s meeting, ‘Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development’, relevant. He drew attention to the fact that the complexity and transnational nature of the challenges and threats the international community faces require a search for collective responses with the bloc’s active participation.

“We have repeatedly said that only together we can solve such problems as conflict resolution, combating terrorism, organized crime, including the criminal use of new technologies, combating climate change, and the spread of dangerous infections,” the Russian president stressed.

Putin also thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese colleagues for their active work this year to promote the BRICS strategic partnership.

Source: Agencies