The 2024 BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia from Tuesday, October 22 to Thursday, October 24, was the sixteenth annual event.
Russia is the current holder of the rotational presidency of the bloc.
It was the first BRICS summit to comprise new entrants Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates following their accession to the organization at the 15th BRICS summit.
The theme of the event was 'Strengthening Multilateralism for Fair Global Development and Security'. During the summit, several key activities took center stage, including key bilateral meetings with participating leaders.
Notable among them was the adoption of ‘The Kazan Declaration’, featuring 134 provisions, which emphasise on strengthening multilateralism, enhancing cooperation for global and regional stability and security, fostering economic and financial cooperation and strengthening people-to-people exchanges for social and economic development.
The other notable activity was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
The meeting came days after their respective governments announced they had reached an agreement on "disengagement and resolution of issues in these areas".
It was the first formal meeting coming four years after Chinese and Indian soldiers engaged in a brutal and deadly clash along a disputed Himalayan border.
The war in Ukraine formed part of the discussions with an emphasis that all states should act consistently with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation.
They also raised concerns over sanctions by Western countries especially on Russia.
The bloc called for reforms in the current International Financial System to meet the global financial challenges including global economic governance to make the international financial architecture more inclusive and just.
The leaders welcomed the use of local currencies in financial transactions between BRICS countries and their trading partners.
The summit also approved an initiative of the Russian side to establish a grain trading platform within BRICS dubbed ‘the BRICS Grain Exchange’.
The BRICS leaders reiterated concern at the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East and the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, in particular the unprecedented escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank as a result of the Israeli military offensive.
"We express alarm over the situation in southern Lebanon. We condemn the loss of civilian lives and the immense damage to civilian infrastructure resulting from attacks by Israel in residential areas in Lebanon and call for immediate cessation of military acts."
Also discussed were the establishment of an independent cross-border settlement and depositary infrastructure, BRICS Clear, an initiative to complement the existing financial market infrastructure, as well as BRICS independent reinsurance capacity, commitment to maintaining a strong and effective Global Financial Safety Net with a quota-based and adequately resourced IMF at its centre and the importance of the continued and productive functioning of the G20.
They further discussed support for initiatives of the BRICS R&D Vaccine Centre, as well as the development of the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for preventing mass infectious diseases risks and encouraging BRICS countries to work together to make further contributions to the conservation of big cats.
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
The group started in 2006 as BRIC with Brazil, Russia, India and China convening the first BRIC summit in 2009.
South Africa joined a year later making it BRICS.