Sergey Lavrov: BRICS Emerging as Global “Umbrella” for Eurasia, Africa and Latin America Integration

In an exclusive interview with TV BRICS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that BRICS is evolving into a global structure attracting interest worldwide.

"BRICS already unites not only countries of Eurasia but also many countries of Latin America and the African continent. This process will continue. [...] Many centres of rapid economic growth, centres of power, centres of financial influence and centres of political influence have emerged, and the world is being reformatted. This is taking place amid competitive struggle," Lavrov said.

According to him, BRICS is demonstrating increasingly strong growth rates: the combined GDP of the group’s countries measured by purchasing power parity significantly exceeds the corresponding indicator of the Group of Seven.

“In the future, BRICS may well become a place where development plans in the economy, the social sphere and infrastructure across Eurasia, Africa and Latin America are harmonised. BRICS provides such a framework, an 'umbrella', if you like, for the development of integration processes on individual continents,” the minister added.

Lavrov also emphasised that cooperation is evident in projects linking South Asia with Russia’s Far East, including those related to the use of the Northern Sea Route and the International North–South Transport Corridor.