Russian FM Sergey Lavrov takes part in an ad hoc meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council in New York

NEW YORK, Sep 21 (SABAH): Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took part in an ad hoc meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers Council in New York.

The meeting agenda included the issues of further consolidation and development of the SCO in the context of improving its efficiency in the current reality. The meeting participants discussed the progress in implementing the decisions made at the highest level. The national coordinators of the SCO Member States were instructed to expedite the drafting of concrete proposals.

The Foreign Ministers exchanged opinions on the key global and regional issues and confirmed their shared commitment to jointly combating security challenges and threats in the interests of ensuring stability and sustainable development in the SCO region. The meeting participants emphasised their intent to boost interaction between the SCO and the United Nations, as well as build ties with other multilateral associations.

The Member States will continue to deepen foreign policy coordination, including the agenda of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile addressing the BRICS Ministerial Meeting on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly Sergey Lavrov said that I would like to thank our South African friends for their productive chairmanship in the past period. He said that the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg and the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations in Cape Town were a great success.

Sergey Lavrov said that documents have been drafted that provide a solid framework for the future development of our association. “I am primarily referring to the six new full members that joined our ranks: Argentina, Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia” Sergey Lavrov said.

He said that all these countries support the fundamental goals and values of BRICS, including the spirit of solidarity, equality, mutual respect, openness, inclusiveness and mutually beneficial cooperation based on consensus. “I have no doubt that our new partners and colleagues will contribute to the association’s development” he said.

Sergey Lavrov said that this was a long overdue and much awaited step that confirmed that the collective voice of BRICS in defence of the global South and global majority is highly relevant in modern international relations.

He said that more and more Asian, African and Latin American states are consolidating their economic positions and demonstrating that they are willing and ready to defend their sovereign national interests and influence global processes. We are witnessing the emergence of a more equitable, polycentric world order, he said. He said that the unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past.

“I am confident that in the current circumstances, the role of the BRICS in addressing global challenges will only grow – all the more so since our association remains an example of true equal and non-discriminatory multipolarity for the international community” he said.

Sergey Lavrov said that our country is taking over the BRICS chairmanship next year. As is traditional, Russia is chairing this meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly. In the near future, we will distribute the programme of our chairmanship, which takes into account that BRICS will have 11 members. I think Brazil would know that eleven is the number of players on a football team. Maybe we should think about setting up a BRICS team, he said.

Sergey Lavrov said that we hope that, as always, we will have your support in our work, and we will definitely achieve important results.