Turkish foreign minister to attend BRICS+ meeting in Russia

ANKARA: Trkiye's foreign minister will travel to Russia on Monday for a two-day visit to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS bloc and several other countries, or BRICS+, according to diplomatic sources. The sources said Hakan Fidan will attend the meeting in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on Tuesday and hold talks with Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Discussions at the meetings will focus on regional and international issues, including recent developments in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and the South Caucasus. Fidan will reiterate Trkiye's expectation for a peaceful end to the ongoing wars in its region as soon as possible, as well as its willingness to provide support in this direction, the sources said. Economic and trade cooperation is also on the agenda, including efforts to increase mutual investments and reach a $100-billion trade volume target, set by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the visit, Fidan is als o expected to meet with Turkish business representatives operating in Russia. BRICS+ session Tuesday's meeting will be addressing issues of international security, sustainable development, and global governance, with BRICS inviting 15 non-member countries to attend, Trkiye, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Algeria, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Laos, Mauritania, Nigeria, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Fidan is also expected hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from other countries on the sidelines of the meeting. President Erdogan had also participated in the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg in 2018. Russia assumed the chairmanship of BRICS from South Africa as of Jan. 1, adopting the theme, "Strengthening multilateralism for fair global development and security." The 16th BRICS summit is planned to be held in Kazan on Oct. 22-24. *Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi in Istanbul Source: Anadolu Agency