The Brics summit in Kazan ends this Thursday, October 24 with a press conference by the Russian president. The final declaration, vague and without measures, was published Wednesday afternoon and says nothing about the basis of an alternative financial system. But it doesn’t matter for the Russian head of state, the image success is there.
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With our special correspondent in Kazan,
The 43 pages of final declaration do not mention any concrete decision, but a general commitment, without time limit. “ We agree to examine the possibility of setting up a system Brics independent cross-border payment system “, indicates the document which, at the same time, specifies that it is in no way a question of claiming to replace the system in place but of ” complement existing infrastructure “.
This joint declaration is above all a symbolic step. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because with a handshake with his Turkish counterpart, Vladimir Putin got what he wanted: to be the first to welcome a Brics country to a Brics summit.NATO.
This Thursday will also see, in Kazan, the first meeting in official format with the countries, as the Türkiyewho knock on the door of the organization. The Russian head of state, indicted by the International Criminal Court and restricted in his international travel, in any case has the images he wanted to show to his domestic opinion and to the world: those of a leader still capable of playing the diplomatic conductors.
Calls to stop fighting in the Middle East and Ukraine
In the joint statement, the BRICS discussed the conflict in the Middle East and called on Israel to “ stop immediately » attacks against the UN force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and “preserve territorial integrity » of this country, while the Iranian president, Massoud Pezeshkian, called on his partners to “use all their collective and individual abilities to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon “.
But this summit was also an opportunity, for many of the protagonists, to discuss the Ukrainian conflict. Xi Jinping recalled his proposed plan with Brazil – which Volodymyr Zelensky called “of destructive initiative conceived without consulting him » – and declared that “China, Brazil and the Global South established a group of friends of peace “.
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, whose visit to Kazan was highly contested by Ukraine, also poses as a mediator in the ongoing conflict. Finally, in the aisles of this very locked summit, we could also observe a large and completely silent delegation from the United Arab Emirates. It was under their aegis that the last exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine took place.
For its part, the Kremlin, through its spokesperson on Wednesday morning, affirmed during an interview on Russian television that “Ukraine is on the agenda of every bilateral meeting » and that all Brics offers of mediation are welcomed “ favorably » by the Russian head of state.
China-India rapprochement
And besides Vladimir Putin, this summit was also an opportunity for other leaders to display their agreements. The Brics summit in Kazan was the scene of the first meeting between Chinese and Indian leaders in five years and the start of armed clashes between the Chinese region of Tibet and the Indian region of Ladakh, according to state media .
The two countries did not make a joint announcement but the effect is there: they announced, at the start of the Brics summit, that they had reached an agreement on patrols in disputed border areas.
The two leaders who briefly crossed paths during the G20 spent, according to images broadcast by Russian media, time together on Tuesday evening, Vladimir Putin sitting between the two of them. And on Wednesday, Xi Jinping had calming words. “Both sides should strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle conflicts and differences, and realize each other’s development dreams “, he said.