Brazil's New Government Committed To BRICS, Earlier Agreements - Russian Diplomat

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2019) The new government of Brazil has confirmed its commitment to BRICS as well as to the earlier agreements, Head of BRICS Office at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Kalugin told Sputnik.

"We do not expect major changes [with new administration]. The Brazilian partners, I think, did everything very consistently. They warned us that because of the elections and the arrival of a new team, we would receive all the information about their priorities later. Due to the formation of a new cabinet," Kalugin said on Wednesday. "But the new team also confirmed its commitment to BRICS and to earlier agreements. "

And now BRICS members are preparing for the summit, he added, and for other meetings at different levels and directions.

"Each chairmanship determines their priorities. At the end of the year, we are planning our own for the next year. But in many ways, each chairmanship relies on the experience of the previous one," he explained.

Each chairmanship picks up agreements from the previous year as is now happening with the Brazilians, who, among other things, will incorporate the achievements that were reached by the South African presidency in 2018, Kalugin said.

"For example, for Russia, we want to create a BRICS energy research platform - a mechanism that will allow experts in the energy sector to share their forecasts and conduct joint assessments of international energy markets. And this decision was made last year. But the actual implementation will begin in this [year]," he said.

The Brazilian chairmanship will also organize work in this direction, he added.

Kalugin spoke at the "Doing Business with the BRICS" Conference organized by the Eurasia Center and the Eurasian Business Coalition.

The seventh annual conference brought together various experts and officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa seeking to expand trade, direct investments and business opportunities, as well as open communication.