Saudi FM meets Russia's Lavrov at BRICS in South Africa

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister met with his Russian counterpart in South Africa on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of a bloc of five key developing economies.

The two-day ministerial meeting of BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is taking place in Cape Town and has also drawn representatives of other countries.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud met Moscow's Sergei Lavrov, the Saudi foreign ministry tweeted.

"During the meeting, they reviewed aspects of friendship and cooperation relations between both countries & peoples, and ways to strengthen & develop them in all fields," the ministry said in a tweet.

Prince Faisal "renewed the Kingdom's position in support of all regional and international efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the… crisis" between Russia and Ukraine.

The Saudi foreign ministry said Prince Faisal and Lavrov had discussed consolidating action on issues of shared interest.

#CapeTown | Foreign Minister HH Prince @FaisalbinFarhan met with Russia’s Foreign Minister H.E Mr. Sergey Lavrov, on the sidelines of the BRICS Ministerial Meeting.🇸🇦🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/vLJylf0zaO

— Foreign Ministry 🇸🇦 (@KSAmofaEN) June 1, 2023

It came as senior officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran were among representatives of over a dozen countries in talks on closer links with BRICS on Friday as the bloc met to deepen ties and position itself as a counterweight to the West.

BRICS is considering expanding its membership, and a growing number of countries, mostly from the global south, have expressed interest in joining.

Once viewed as a loose association of disparate emerging economies, BRICS has in recent years taken more concrete shape, driven initially by China and, since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, with added impetus from Russia.

In remarks opening Friday's discussions, host South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor spoke of the bloc as a champion of the developing world, which she said was abandoned by wealthy states and global institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The world has faltered in cooperation. Developed countries have never met their commitments to the developing world and are trying to shift all responsibility to the global South," Pandor said.

Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan all sent representatives to Cape Town for so-called "Friends of BRICS" talks, an official programme showed.

Egypt, Argentina, Bangladesh, Guinea-Bissau and Indonesia were participating virtually.

(The New Arab, Reuters)