Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called on the five BRICS countries to step up energy cooperation by creating a shared platform for energy research.[Special coverage]
Addressing the 9th BRICS summit in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen, Putin said the bloc of emerging markets, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, should step up their energy dialogue.
"To this effect, Russia proposes creating a BRICS platform for energy research, which could help promote industrial, analytical and academic exchanges and data sharing," he said.
The three-day summit has been widely expected to set the future course for the group, which accounts for about 43 percent of the world's population and has contributed more than half of global economic growth over the past decade.
The Russian president also called for joint efforts in space exploration, healthcare cooperation, culture development and people-to-people exchanges.
"We should continue to strengthen cultural ties and redouble efforts to implement agreements on culture cooperation," Putin said.
As the BRICS mechanism has entered a new stage featuring the three pillars of economic cooperation, political and security cooperation, and people-to-people exchange, there will be an increase in cultural activities involving BRICS countries this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Putin on Sunday. The two sides agreed to consolidate mutual political trust and enhance strategic cooperation.
Putin will also attend the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries on Tuesday.
