XIAMEN (China) (Sputnik) — Mexico is delighted to take part in the BRICS summit in China's Xiamen and sees the bloc's debate as a new paradigm for international cooperation, where shared visions allows member states to maintain their identities, the minister for Asia and the Middle East of the governmental agency ProMexico, told Sputnik.
This year, the summit is being held in a "BRICS Plus format," which means that apart from the five member-states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), other countries have been invited, namely Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand.
"This is a debate I can almost say is a new paradigm of countries that want to sit at the table together and debate on what is the world of the future — in terms of how how we cooperate, optimize our resources, think of our environment and address all those issues and still manage to maintain our identities as individual countries, while creating a reasonably homogeneous group with shared vision and policies," Claudio Ludlow said.
The official noted that the Mexican side was pleased by the invitation to participate in the forum, adding that the forum's format would contribute to the development of integration and cooperation in world trade.
"We are delighted to have been invited. We are not technically BRICS, but we are BRICS Plus. We are open to whatever conclusions and directions BRICS wants to take," Ludlow added.
ProMexico is a federal government agency responsible for coordinating activities aimed at strengthening Mexico's participation in the international trade and attracting foreign investment.