On Friday, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brazil, calling on BRICS members to deepen cooperation and take bigger roles in international affairs.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo hosted the meeting with the participation of foreign ministers from China, South Africa, India, and Russia.

Wang Yi stressed that the BRICS cooperation mechanism is not a choice of expediency but a strategic step taken to embrace the world and promote long-term and common development. Enhancing cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries, represented by BRICS, echoes the trend of multilateralism and entails bright prospect for unleashing great potential, he said.

"We are witnessing major changes unfolding in our world, something unseen in a century," Wang said, urging the five member states to "bring stronger BRICS voices, present more BRICS solutions, play bigger BRICS roles" in international affairs. 

"No matter how the international situation changes, the direction of BRICS cooperation must not change," he added. 

Wang was on an official visit to Brazil from July 24 to 26 and is now in Chile for a two-day official visit at the invitation of Chilean Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera. The state visit to Chile ends tomorrow, July 28.

(Video Cover: (L-R) Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, South Africa's Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor, India's Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Vijay Kumar Singh pose for a picture during the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 26, 2019. /Photo via Chinese government website)