ASTANA – First Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov took part in a June 2 meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, reported the ministry’s press service.
Kazakh First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov and South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor. Photo credit: Foreign Ministry.
Kazakhstan is seeking to join BRICS and strengthen economic cooperation with its member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). It has become an effective international platform for addressing acute contemporary issues, demonstrating collaboration between emerging economies.
Addressing the meeting participants, Umarov emphasized the importance of collective efforts in solving urgent problems, pointing to the synergy of the goals, objectives, and principles of the BRICS, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), based on international law and the United Nations Charter.
Umarov informed that trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the BRICS countries exceeded $50 billion in 2022.
Kairat Umarov took part in a June 2 meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo credit: Foreign Ministry.
Umarov held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting with the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor. They addressed the development of political and economic ties between the countries, cooperation in multilateral formats, and exchanged views on international and regional topics of mutual interest.
Umarov also met with the heads of other delegations participating in the ministerial meeting.
Today, BRICS comprises 35% of the Earth’s territory, 40% of the world’s population, and 30% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The event was attended by the BRICS member states and a group of states known as the Friends of the BRICS (Argentina, Bangladesh, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay).
Kazakhstan was invited to this forum as the current chair of the CICA and the future chair of the SCO.
