President Abbas Says Palestine Will Be Invited To Attend BRICS Summit

JAKARTA - President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians would be invited to attend the BRICS summit after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

President Abbas is in Moscow for an official working visit on August 12-14. In his meeting with President Putin, Abbas discussed a number of things, ranging from the development of conflict in Gaza to bilateral relations between the two countries.

"We have discussed our vision of possible developments in the near future and what it can produce during these complicated times," President Abbas told TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman after a meeting with President Putin, as quoted on August 14.

"We have certainly also discussed bilateral relations, because we enjoy longstanding strategic relations with Russia," the Palestinian leader continued.

"That is why we have discussed bilateral relations between Russia and Palestine, relations that we have always strongly supported both during private meetings and at the level of telephone conversations. We have discussed various perspectives for further development," he said.

Interestingly, the two leaders also discussed the BRICS cooperation forum, which was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Russia currently holds the presidency of BRICS for a year starting January 1, 2024. Russia's presidency features more than 250 different events, with the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024 being its main event.

"We have also discussed BRICS. We have reached an oral agreement that Palestine will be invited (to attend this forum) in a'reachment' format," said President Abbas.

According to Palestinian Leaders, "certain gatherings can be held and will be exclusively dedicated to Palestine, so that all countries will voice their views on developments in this area."

"Everything will be as complete as possible, given the fact that these association member countries are all friendly with Palestine," said President Abbas.

Since its founding in 2006, BRICS has experienced two expansion phases. In 2011, South Africa joined the early group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China. On January 1, 2024, five new members of BRICS officially entered, namely Egypt, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.

Palestinian leaders added that they discussed "all issues of concern between the two sides" with Russian President Putin.

"Our meeting lasted almost two hours and you can imagine there was no banned issue between us, because we have discussed all issues that are of concern to both parties," added President Abbas.