By IANS
New Delhi : Although Brazil is joining the troika of Russia, India and China (RIC) in May, the three original member countries will continue to maintain a separate identity, a Russian official said Friday.
Brazil has been invited to take part in the next gathering of the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China for the first time.
But this will not transform RIC into BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Konstantin V. Vnukov, director of the First Asian department in Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters here.
Russia, India and China have been meeting regularly at various levels in recent years to discuss challenges facing the world order.
The first meeting of their leaders was held in 2006 in St. Petersburg on the sidelines of the G-8 meeting. The foreign ministers last met in October 2007 at Harbin, China.
Vnukov said the Brazilian foreign minister would attend the second day of talks in May.
“BRIC will be based on economic and financial ties. While RIC will not exclude economic issues from its discussions, it will chiefly concentrate on international problems,” he said.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will attend the talks.
Vnukov said the agenda would include terrorism, instability in Iraq, the Middle East and reforms in the United Nations.