Russia Invites Venezuela to BRICS+ Summit in October
Orinoco Tribune, August 4, 2024 —
Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil reported that the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has invited his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro to attend the BRICS Outreach/BRICS Plus meeting, scheduled to be held on October 23-24, 2024 in Kazan, Russia. The Russian Federation will host the BRICS summit as the pro tempore president of the BRICS.
The Russian president’s invitation letter, dated August 1, 2024, states, “We believe that the aforementioned meeting on the theme ‘BRICS and the Global South: Building a Better World Together’ will provide a constructive impulse to solve the current problems of regional and global dimensions and will favor the consolidation of collective efforts to build a fair and democratic system of international relations.”
“I am sure that your participation will enrich the forthcoming discussion, will help to identify promising areas of multilateral cooperation for the benefit of the world majority and will undoubtedly contribute to the further progressive development of Russian-Venezuelan relations,” President Putin’s letter to President Maduro added.
The letter ends with “I will be glad to see you in Kazan.”
BRICS is an economic, political and social alliance comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Since its first ministerial meeting in September 2006, it has been trying to build an alliance of multilateral cooperation to democratize the current global economic system dominated by the United States. At the beginning of 2024, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Ethiopia joined the group, turning BRICS into BRICS Plus.
Currently, more than 20 countries aspire to join the BRICS Plus group.
President Maduro: Venezuela can grant oil and gas exploration rights to BRICS
During a press conference on Friday, August 2, President Maduro said that his government can grant oil and gas exploration rights to the BRICS countries.
“If these people from the North and their associates in the world make the mistake of their lives, then those oil and gas blocks that had already been signed with them will go to our allies of the BRICS,” said the Venezuelan president.
The head of state added that the “biggest investments” in oil and gas sectors in Venezuela come from the BRICS countries, and stressed that this bloc has a “portfolio of opportunities” that Venezuela considers attractive.
“The world no longer depends on the ruling elite in Washington,” President Maduro said. “There is another world, and that world is open with all its political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, financial, commercial, spiritual possibilities. It is open to Venezuela.”