Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be among the leaders of the 24 countries that will attend this month’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a top Kremlin aide on Thursday.
Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, told reporters that 24 countries will be represented “at the leader level” and that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also participate.
The summit of emerging economies starts October 22 in the city on the River Volga.
President Erdoğan is to attend after Turkey requested to join the group of emerging economies.
Turkey formally applied for full membership as confirmed by Russian presidential aide Ushakov in September.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, recently said the country’s interest in BRICS stems from its efforts to diversify global partnerships, especially given the stalled progress on its bid to join the European Union.
In addition Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to attend as is Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, making his first visit to Russia since he took office this summer.
“The summit in Kazan could turn into the largest-scale foreign policy event that has ever been held in our country,” Ushakov said.
The group takes its name from the initial letters of the five members who joined in 2009 — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — but has since expanded to include Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.
Ushakov said the leaders of 38 countries had been invited in total, with nine sending senior officials.
All the leaders of the regional CIS bloc of ex-Soviet countries will attend, he added.
The summit will start with informal meetings on October 22 followed by a formal summit on October 23-24, Ushakov said.
Putin will also hold “around” 20 bilateral meetings, starting October 21 and finishing October 24, Ushakov said.
There will also be a business forum held ahead of the summit in Moscow on October 18, with Putin giving a speech.
Russia last hosted a BRICS summit in 2015 in the city of Ufa.