Lavrov hopes BRICS foreign ministers to hold regular meetings
BEIJING. June 19 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he hopes that ministerial sessions of the BRICS member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will become regular.
"We have been supporting the idea of a separate BRICS ministerial meeting from the beginning. I believe it is important to discuss pressing international problems and crises and to coordinate our stances in view of the pending contacts between our chiefs of state in Hamburg and the [BRICS] summit in Xiamen," Lavrov said at the opening of the BRICS ministerial meeting in Beijing.
"Hopefully, the practice of separate meetings of the foreign ministers will take root in the activity of our five nations," he said.
The forthcoming BRICS summit will raise the efficiency of joint efforts, Lavrov said.
"I am sure that the ninth BRICS summit due in Xiamen in September will foster partnership between our states and efficiency of joint efforts in the deterrence of common challenges," he said.
"We will be promoting its fruitfulness to the fullest extent," Lavrov said.