India on Monday welcomed Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia as new members of the BRICS grouping as their representatives attended a key meeting of the bloc hosted by Russia, which took over the year-long membership of BRICS on January 1. The Indian delegation was represented by senior diplomat Dammu Ravi in Nizhny Novgorod, in western Russia. The ministers at the meeting welcomed "the active participation of the new members of BRICS, the Ministers assured continued support to their seamless and full integration into BRICS cooperation mechanisms", according to an official statement. The ministers also exchanged views on major global and regional trends and issues.
All sides agreed on specific norms, such as multilateralism, upholding of international law, comprehensive reform of the United Nations, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), commitment to a successful COP29, BRICS coordination on global health, condemning unilateral and discriminatory protectionist measures, open and transparent WTO, reforms in global financial architecture and more.
The meeting on Monday was the first ministerial meeting following BRICS expansion in 2023 when Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE joined Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as full-fledged BRICS members. Argentina was also approved for admission within the bloc, however, its President Javier Milei withdrew saying the timing was "not opportune". Later,the BRICS nations on Monday expressed grave concern over the "unprecedented" escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli military operations and reaffirmed their support for Palestine's full membership in the United Nations.At a meeting in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod, the BRICS foreign ministers reiterated the grouping's unwavering commitment to the vision of a two-state solution to the Palestine issue based on international law.
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