OREANDA-NEWS. Vladimir Putin took part in the fifth BRICS summit. The summit’s theme is BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialisation.

The summit concluded with the publication of the eThekwini Declaration and Action Plan. The declaration assesses the current global political and economic situation and reflects the BRICS countries’ common positions on current multilateral cooperation issues. The action plan outlines the BRICS countries’ work over the coming year and also includes some promising new areas of cooperation.

The BRICS leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements on green economy, co-financing infrastructure projects in Africa, and a declaration on establishing the BRICS Business Council.

Also signed was a declaration on establishing a consortium of BRICS countries’ expert centres and the issue of joint statistics publications from the BRICS countries.

Before the summit began, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met with business leaders.

On this day, BRICS leaders also met with the heads of African states. During the meeting, Vladimir Putin noted that BRICS countries are jointly championing the rights and interests of African nations and other states with emerging economies, speaking out in favour of increasing their role and influence within the global governance system, particularly within international financial and economic organisations.