🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address to participants of a grand ceremony for opening the 2nd BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum (May 15, 2025)

💬 Ladies and gentlemen,

Colleagues,

Friends,

Welcome to the grand opening ceremony marking the beginning of the 2nd BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum.

Without a doubt, today’s event represents a milestone for the BRICS countries’ business communities and our entire association, which increasingly plays a big part in global affairs.

We view BRICS as a focal point for coordinating interests of the World Majority’s leading countries, a key pillar of a multipolar world, and an important mechanism for advancing genuinely multilateral cooperation. I would like to emphasise that our joint work within the association is based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, and balance of interests of all participants.

The potential of BRICS has benefitted greatly from expansion. The BRICS countries represent nearly half of the world’s population, and their aggregate GDP makes up about 40 percent of global GDP in terms of purchasing power parity, more than that of the G7.

Considering this, it stands to reason that BRICS continues to attract the Global South and Global East countries that seek mutually beneficial partnerships and joint development.

Expanding comprehensive cooperation within the BRICS format is among our unconditional foreign policy priorities. We place special emphasis on supporting new ideas and pro-active approaches in the economy, ensuring financial stability, advancing digitalisation, and enhancing transport connectivity.

Women’s entrepreneurship is a key factor in achieving progress in these and other areas. Your determination, innovation-based approaches, and leadership create new prospects and open new horizons for expanding our respective economies and social spheres.

Today’s forum provides an excellent opportunity to exchange best practices, to establish and strengthen business contacts, and to coordinate specific practical cooperation projects.

The initiatives to be developed during the forum will be taken into account in preparations for the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro on July 6-7 and contribute to the collective efforts of our association.

I wish you engaging interactions, substantive discussions, and all the best. I am confident that, acting together, we can make our BRICS partnership even more effective.

⚡️ Statement by the Head of Delegation of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky on the outcomes of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul (May 16, 2025)

💬 Dear colleagues,

The direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side, held on the initiative of the President of Russia, have just concluded.

In general, we are satisfied with the outcome and are ready to continue contacts.

This is what we agreed on:

1. In the coming days there will be a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war — 1,000 for 1,000.

2. The Ukrainian side has requested direct talks between the heads of state. We have taken notice of this request.

3. We agreed that each side would present its vision of a possible future ceasefire. This will be outlined in detail.

Once this vision has been presented, we believe it would be appropriate, as also agreed, to continue our negotiations.