MOSCOW (Sputnik) – On Monday, the first-ever BRICS Parliamentary Forum kicked off in Moscow. The meeting brings together lawmakers from the world’s five major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
"We will discuss a wide range of issues related to both the role of the five parliaments in the discussion of the most important political and economic issues, and the creation of the BRICS’s parliamentary dimension," Valentina Matvienko said, when opening the forum.
Matvienko described the forum as a "historic event."
Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia preferred BRICS and G20 to "unproductive" G8 format.
On July 9-10, the BRICS's seventh annual summit will be held in Russia's southern city of Ufa.
The BRICS grouping was officially founded in May 2008. Originally known as BRIC, it changed its name after the admission of South Africa in 2010.
