S Jaishankar Attends Virtual Meeting Of BRICS Foreign Ministers

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday participated in a virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries that focused on the annual summit of the five-nation grouping in South Africa next month.

In a tweet, S Jaishankar described the discussions at the extraordinary BRICS ((Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) foreign ministers' meeting as "useful".

"A useful conversation for taking the BRICS agenda forward. And preparing for the summit meeting," he said.

The BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41 per cent of the global population, 24 per cent of the global GDP and 16 per cent of the global trade.

The BRICS summit will take place in Johannesburg next month. South Africa is the current chair of BRICS.

On Wednesday, South Africa said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to that country to attend the BRICS summit.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of war crimes in Ukraine. South Africa is a signatory to the ICC.

In a statement, South Africa said an agreement on Putin not attending the summit was taken as part of mutual understanding and that it was decided following a series of consultations.

Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin will attend the summit via video conferencing and that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be present at the venue.

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