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 disembarks plane, arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit
Xi disembarks plane, arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit
Xi disembarks plane, arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit
Xi disembarks plane, arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit
A former Peruvian congressman said the recent meeting between the leaders of China and the United States in Peru holds great significance for countries around the world, expressing hope that relations between the two sides would be empowered.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met in Peru during their attendance to the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima.
Guillermo Aliaga, legal expert and former Peruvian congressman, stressed that the meeting has global implications.
"I think that all the meetings that have been taking place here in Peru because of the APEC (summit) have been really important for both big countries. We don't have usually these kind of spaces where both leaders can have meetings and conversations in front of each other. They can talk about multiple things, including, of course, the security around the world. So I think it is really important," he said.
"If we don't have the appearance of both presidents, we might have some problems in order to take actual decisions. From the Peruvian point of view, we think that the presence of the president of China has been really important, especially to do with the new opening of the megaport that we have in Chancay that will have the new route to go to Shanghai," he said.
The Chancay Port, a project on under the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, opened on November 14 and is set to enhance trade efficiency between South America and Asia, cutting shipping time to China to 23 days and reducing logistics costs by at least 20 percent.
According to Aliaga, the APEC meetings helped spotlight China's investments in the port and other projects in the eyes of U.S. leadership.
"At the same time, the United States has seen that China is investing right now in South America, especially in Peru. So they can talk between each other in order to see what kind of economic relations can be built or improved (between) both countries. Both countries are the biggest ones right now in the economy of the world. The forum of APEC is really important for not only these two countries and their citizens, it is really important also for the citizens around the world. I think that the relations between the two countries need to be empowered," he said.
Former Peruvian congressman hopes for empowered US-China relations
