The 10th BRICS+ parliamentary forum, under Russia’s chairmanship, is currently taking place at the Tavrichesky Place in St Petersburg, and will continue until 12 July 2024. The forum began with a plenary session titled: “The Parliamentary dimension of BRICS: Prospects for Strengthening Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation”. The session was followed by a ceremony to sign the protocol for the Memorandum of Understanding on the BRICS Parliamentary Forum.
The agenda includes discussions on international politics and cooperation, followed by talks on economics as well as humanitarian and cultural interaction. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, heads the Iranian delegation from Tehran. This is the first time a senior Iranian official attends an open meeting of BRICS following Iran’s inclusion into the group.
Ghalibaf has been welcomed by high-level Russian parliamentary officials and Iran’s Moscow ambassador, Kazem Jalal. His visit is aimed at exploring BRICS+ opportunities for financial and commercial transactions. The BRICS Parliamentary Forum brings together representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It was established in 2006 as the BRIC group comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa later joined in 2010 making it “BRICS”.
Additionally, the forum focuses on the parliamentary role in enhancing international relations and advancing global development and security. The BRICS+ bloc represents some of the world’s major economies and aims to look into alternative perspectives to the current prevailing Western-dominated global policies. Iran became an official member of BRICS in January this year after additional countries joined forming “BRICS+”. These countries include Egypt, Ethiopia, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will hold several separate meetings with participants in the forum. The Federation Council’s press service announced approximately 400 delegates from 16 different countries including Russia, are taking part. Attendees will include a delegation of the Russian State Duma led by Vyacheslav Volodin, St Petersburg Governor, Alexander Beglov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Lawmakers from Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
According to the speaker of the Federation Council, this year’s central theme, “The Role of Parliaments in the Strengthening of Multipolarity for Fair Global Development and Security”, tackles significant challenges and aligns with Russia’s presidency priorities. This emphasizes the commitment to secure and equitable development, highlighting that all events in the forum will revolve around this theme.
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As BRICS+ continues to expand its influence, could this forum potentially lead to a new geopolitical bloc that challenges traditional Western dominance? What implications would such a shift have on global trade, security, and diplomatic relations?”,
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