UN chief arrives in Russia for BRICS summit

Antonio Guterres could not miss the chance to meet with world leaders in Kazan, his spokesman has said

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Russia to attend the the BRICS Summit in Kazan. The Russian-hosted event is of great significance to the international organization as the geopolitical bloc represents nearly half of the global population, according to a UN spokesperson.

Leaders from across the globe have gathered in Kazan for the 16th BRICS Summit on October 22-24.

“This is a meeting of great importance for the work of the United Nations, with the BRICS countries representing about half of the world’s population,” the deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. “The Secretary-General will take the opportunity to hold several bilateral meetings with the leaders attending the summit.”

The statement was a response to a journalist’s question regarding Kiev’s criticism of Guterres’ attendance at the BRICS Summit, especially after he skipped this year’s Swiss-hosted Ukraine ‘peace conference’.

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It is “standard practice” for the secretary-general to attend “meetings of organizations with significant numbers of important member states,” such as the G7 and G20, Haq explained.

“The secretary-general will reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine and the conditions for a just peace,” as well as addressing freedom of navigation in the Black Sea during the summit in Kazan, the spokesperson added.

Earlier this year, Switzerland hosted a gathering which revolved around Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’ – a ten-point wish list that Moscow has dismissed as delusional. Russia was not invited to the meeting, which has been widely perceived as a failure, yielding no concrete results.

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The BRICS Summit is set to host high-level bilateral talks and diplomatic discussions focused on global multilateralism. With dozens of nations expressing interest in joining the bloc or working with the group, current members have agreed to discuss offering partner status to some of these countries during the summit.

Current BRICS members include Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. The economic bloc represents approximately 46% of the world’s population and over 36% of global GDP, according to estimates from leading financial institutions.