Kazan, Oct 23 (IANS): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said that more than 30 countries have expressed a desire to join the BRICS alliance, an intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which had added four new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates - in January, this year.

"It would be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with BRICS. In one form or another, more than 30 states have already expressed such a desire. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain a balance and not allow a decrease in the effectiveness of BRICS," said Putin while making his opening statement at the 16th BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

Besides Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Chinese President Xi Jinping, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Luis Ecker Vieira held the day's first engagement - a summit meeting in a restricted format.

Also present at the meeting were Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and several other key BRICS officials.

Before the start of the meeting, a joint photo session of the heads of delegations of the BRICS countries took place.

In his opening remarks, the Russian President highlighted that it was for the first time that the BRICS Summit is also being held in an expanded format as it was the Russian presidency 's motto to strengthen multilateralism for equitable global development and security.

"We sought to strengthen the authority of BRICS, enhance its role in world affairs, in solving urgent, global and regional problems, and in every way contributed to the deepening of multifaceted cooperation between our states in three main areas: politics and security, economics and finance, cultural and humanitarian contacts. And, naturally, we did everything to ensure the smooth and most complete integration of new member countries into the work of the association," he said.

During the narrow format meeting, the leaders held discussions on more pressing aspects of the global agenda, including cooperation between BRICS states in the international arena and settlement of acute regional conflicts.

The Russian President maintained that the leaders will also discuss the implementation of two important decisions of the previous summit in Johannesburg - the deepening of financial cooperation within BRICS and the further expansion of the organisation.

"We are all witnesses to the dynamic development of BRICS, the strengthening of its authority and influence in world affairs. The member states of our association possess truly enormous political, economic, scientific, technological and human potential. At the same time, we are united by common values ??and worldview," he said.

Putin stated that it would be fair to say that BRICS includes like-minded people – sovereign countries representing different continents, development models, religions, original civilizations and cultures with all member states advocating equality, good neighbourliness and mutual respect.

"This is the essence of the strategy of the BRICS course on the global stage, which meets the aspirations of the main part of the international community, the so-called global majority, and it is precisely this course that is especially in demand in the current conditions, when truly fundamental changes are taking place in the world, and the process of forming a multipolar world is underway," he concluded.