Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday arrived in Kazan, the capital city of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi is set to attend small- and large-group leaders' meetings and the BRICS Plus leaders' dialogue, and will deliver important speeches. Xi will also have in-depth exchanges with other state leaders on the current international situation, practical BRICS cooperation, the development of the BRICS mechanism and other important issues of common concern.

Xi's entourage, including Cai Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and director of the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and foreign minister, arrived on the same plane.

This summit, scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday, is the first to be held after the expansion of the BRICS organization earlier this year.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In January, it expanded its membership to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia.

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

The combination of the Shenzhou-19 manned spaceship and a Long March-2F Y19 carrier rocket has been transferred to the launching area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Tuesday afternoon.

At 16:00, the combination was lifted from the assembly and test facility and smoothly transported via a vertical transfer method to the launching site. The entire transfer process covered a distance of 1.5 kilometers and took approximately two hours.

The spacecraft and rocket combination weighs over 40 tons and stands nearly 60 meters tall.

The completion of this vertical transport signifies that the rocket has officially entered the final phase of launch preparations.

Subsequent activities will include a series of function checks and joint tests, with a launch expected to take place later this month.

Gao Minzhong, a senior engineer with the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, highlighted the emphasis on safety and precision during the transport.

"We have optimized the control of positioning accuracy upon the combination's arrival at the destination and prepared multiple backup plans to guarantee a reliable and foolproof transfer," Gao said.

China is scheduled to launch the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship and welcome the Shenzhou-18 crew back to the Earth in late October, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The three-member Shenzhou-18 crew was sent into space on April 25.

Shenzhou-19 spaceship, carrier rocket combination transferred to launch pad