Belarusian president lauds China's role in BRICS

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has highly commented on China's contribution to BRICS on Wednesday, calling China "the first country" and one of the main pillars of the BRICS.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Lukashenko said it's a boon that China is in the BRICS and it's hard to imagine a BRICS without China.

"If you look at BRICS and China as a whole, I find it hard to imagine BRICS without China. It's the first country, to put it bluntly. Okay, second after the United States. I believe it's the first. And especially with the progress that exists today, China is definitely the first country. It's a boon when China is in the SCO or in the BRICS," he said.

"It is one of the main pillars of this organization. So, BRICS should, this organization should be happy with the cooperation with China, happy that China is in this organization. And it's a young organization. It is still developing and everything is just beginning. The world is going through turbulent processes, and it is good that such an organization exists. It seems to me that without China, it is difficult to talk about intensive development in the BRICS organization itself," said Lukashenko.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It has now evolved into an influential international cooperation mechanism with an expanded membership.

Besides the countries that officially joined the BRICS family on January 1, 2024, over other 30 countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have either formally applied for or expressed interest in membership.

The 16th BRICS Summit from Tuesday to Thursday marks the first in-person BRICS gathering since its expansion.

Belarusian president lauds China's role in BRICS

Belarusian president lauds China's role in BRICS

Belarusian president lauds China's role in BRICS

China's thirst for coffee continues to grow with an industry report unveiled at a coffee carnival in Shanghai on Wednesday showing the Chinese market has posted strong growth momentum alongside an increasing global consumption trend.

The ninth Lujiazui Coffee Festival opened in the heart of Shanghai on Wednesday, with the Global Coffee Industry Development Trends Insight Report and Index also being released at the event's opening ceremony.

The report showed that global coffee consumption reached 10.62 million tons in 2023, up 2.2 percent from the previous year, with a staggering total of 3 billion cups of coffee being consumed around the world every day.

It also detailed how the Chinese coffee market has expanded significantly, becoming one of the driving forces of the global coffee industry.

"The coffee industry in China is in a period of rapid expansion. [Its industrial scale] is estimated to be around 300 billion yuan (about 42.17 billion yuan), and it should maintain a double-digit growth rate every year," said Zhang Zhaoxin, a researcher at the Research Center for Rural Economy under China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The five-day coffee festival in Shanghai has brought together more than 260 brands and over 100 boutique coffee shops from around 70 cities around the world, offering a wide selection of flavors to coffee fans.

"When I came to this place, I felt that I could see some new stores that I had not seen before, which is very interesting," said a local.

"Like the specialty drinks of many boutique restaurants, they always have some very diverse products to attract us. Shanghai's coffee culture is very inclusive," said another attendee.

Report highlights China's growing thirst for coffee as fans flock to Shanghai festival