By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) – The UN has announced Secretary-General Antony Guterres' attendance at the three-day 16th BRICS summit in Russia’s city of Kazan, which began on Tuesday.
"The Secretary-General (Guterres) is attending the BRICS summit, as he did previously in South Africa," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a news conference on Tuesday.
It is "a standard practice in attending meetings of organizations with large numbers of important member states," Haq said, adding: "There's a meeting with great importance for the work of the United Nations, with the BRICS countries representing about half the world's population."
He said the UN chief will hold several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
The leaders of the BRICS countries have arrived in Kazan for the summit, which is expected to include 22 heads of state and six heads of international organizations.
Responding to criticisms of the UN chief acceptance of an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Haq said Guterres also intends to visit Ukraine at an appropriate time, reiterating that his previous statements regarding the Russia-Ukraine war remain valid.
During the BRICS summit, Guterres is expected to raise issues concerning not only Ukraine and Gaza but also freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
The three-day summit of BRICS includes longtime members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – the source of the group’s name – along with recent additions Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).