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Attending the meeting on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office – Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, and Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President,

I am delighted to see you in Russia again. Your visit to St Petersburg in June was very fruitful. We held substantive talks and attended the plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Russian-Bolivian cooperation is based on the solid traditions of friendship and mutual respect. Our bilateral ties are developing consistently across many spheres, including politics, the economy, trade, education and culture. Our countries have similar views on the fundamental principles of international order, and we are working jointly at the UN.

We appreciate your decision to accept our invitation to attend the BRICS Summit in Kazan. I hope you are not disappointed. During the expanded session in the BRICS Plus/Outreach format today, we heard the strong voice of Latin America, which is represented by the heads of many regional states that share the fundamental goals and principles of our group. We listened with great interest to your assessment of the current geopolitical situation, which you made during your address.

I believe that the summit was a success. We can see that the Global Majority countries increasingly see BRICS as a truly authoritative group that the international community needs.

During our meeting today, we will be able to discuss the most relevant issues of our bilateral cooperation and also issues on the multilateral agenda.

We are delighted to see you, Mr President. Once again, welcome to Russia.

President of Bolivia Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (retranslated): President Putin, thank you very much for the warm reception. We are always happy to attend such events and to have the opportunity to engage in direct dialogue on various subjects with you.

The main issue of concern to us today in the context of recent news is the status of a BRICS partner country. Does this mean that we can become a full member? How are such questions considered? Also, does the BRICS modality offer access to full membership? This is the topmost question I would like to discuss with you today in light of the latest media reports.

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