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The Russian Foreign Ministry summed up the results of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship in the first half of 2024 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke about the interim results of the country's BRICS Chairship, according to the ministry's official website. “The year 2024 is a special year for us with Russia acting as #BRICS chair. Our chairmanship has entered a decisive phase. More than 130 events have been held at various levels across the three main cooperation areas, including politics and security, the economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian contacts. A number of specialised meetings have been held as part of the political bloc, primarily, the meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers in Nizhny Novgorod on June 10-11. An extended session with the participation of representatives from the Global South and the Global East countries, as well as the countries chairing regional organizations, including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mauritania, Thailand, Türkiye, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Vietnam, was held as part of the meeting”. According to Zakharova, coordination between the BRICS countries at international forums, primarily at the UN, continues to make strides. “The joint theme-driven statement by the BRICS delegations on the sidelines of the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly (Nairobi, February 26-March 1) offers a good example”. In the economic sphere, the BRICS countries are discussing ways to promote sustainable development, to support the multilateral trading system, and to improve the global financial architecture. "Pursuant to the decisions of the 2023 Johannesburg BRICS Summit, the BRICS countries are working on ways to create financial facilities for mutual settlements that are immune to external risks and to increase the share of national currencies in trade and investment transactions. In particular, these issues were discussed at the meetings of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors on the sidelines of G20 events." According to the briefing given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official representative, special attention is also paid to strengthening BRICS partnership in the fields of healthcare, food security, technological cooperation, and energy security. During its presidency, as is customary, cultural and humanitarian cooperation was highlighted. The BRICS International Film Festival (April 19-23), the BRICS Academic Forum (May 22-24), the BRICS Civil Forum (July 3-4) and many other events with the participation of experts, civil society representatives from our countries, and cultural figures have taken place on this track. #NEWS#diplomacy#RussianChairship#CivilBRICS#AcademicForum#Forum