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BOLETIN INFORMATIVO 7

Response by Russian MFA Acting Spokesman Boris Malakhov to Media Questions in Connection with BRIC Foreign Ministers Meeting in Yekaterinburg

Question: A meeting of Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China will take place on May 16 in Yekaterinburg in the BRIC format. What themes are planned to be discussed at it?

Answer: In the course of their talks the heads of the four countries’ foreign affairs agencies are planning on discussing topical international issues, on many of which our positions are close or coincide, as well as possible areas of four-way collaboration on the world scene. We expect a constructive exchange of views on the issues of the functioning of international organizations and fora, on disarmament and nonproliferation problems and on the fight against terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.

It is planned that particular attention will be given to discussing topical global economic and financial trends and to the issues of energy security and energy efficiency. In addition, the agenda of the upcoming meeting includes issues relating to international development assistance and cooperation on climate change.

Question: What goals does Russia set itself in developing BRIC interaction?

Answer: We regard BRIC as a promising dialogue mechanism that helps via a free exchange of views to bring positions closer on the most pressing issues on the international agenda. The creation of this format of interaction has been prompted by an objective reality: BRIC currently incorporates major centers of economic growth with more than half the world’s population, whose role will be growing in international affairs. Russia is interested in ensuring that the BRIC countries’ cooperation becomes a noticeable factor of multilateral diplomacy; contributes weightily to the strengthening of the emerging multipolarity and helps create informal mechanisms for collective leadership of key states of the world. All four countries are participants of the traditional Group of Eight dialogue with the five key developing states.

The dialogue among our countries in the quadripartite format is developing successfully. The Foreign Ministers have already met twice – in 2006 and 2007 in New York on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the UN General Assembly. The present meeting in Yekaterinburg is for the first time being held outside the context of UN-linked events. Agreement has been reached that a joint communique will be adopted at its end, in which the common approaches of the four countries toward the topical issues of world development and international security will find reflection.