Meeting with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa

Attending the meeting on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Lavrov SergeiMinister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov Manturov DenisFirst Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander Novak Novak AlexanderDeputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federationand Alexei Overchuk Overchuk AlexeiDeputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Special Presidential Representative for Financial and Economic Cooperation with BRICS States and Interaction with the New Development Bank Maxim Oreshkin Oreshkin MaximDeputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov Peskov DmitryDeputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Presidential Press Secretary, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov Ushakov YuryAide to the President, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Chair of the Russian side of the Joint Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Russia and South Africa Alexander Kozlov Kozlov AlexanderMinister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov Reshetnikov MaximMinister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov Siluanov AntonMinister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina Nabiullina ElviraGovernor of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia), Director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, Head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova Popova AnnaHead of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor), Chair of the Russian Association of Fertiliser Producers Andrey Guryev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev Dmitriev KirillCEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and CEO of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev Likhachev AlexeiDirector General of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,

We are delighted to welcome you all to Kazan, Russia.

We are grateful for your decision to take part in the BRICS Summit. Tonight, we will attend the opening ceremony together.

This year, Russia assumed the BRICS chairmanship, taking over from South Africa, and we have built our work taking into account the results achieved at the Johannesburg summit. Our focus has been on the seamless integration of new participants into the multi-level architecture of BRICS. In close contact with our South African friends, we have worked on coordinating the modalities for establishing the partner state status.

The relevant agencies of our countries collaborated in the financial sector to expand the use of national currencies in mutual settlements and to create an independent payment system.

Our bilateral relations are based on the principles of a comprehensive strategic partnership, equality, and mutual respect. Our political dialogue is progressing, and our foreign policy departments and security councils are actively communicating. Interparliamentary cooperation has been established.

To be continued.