Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan in Kazan, a city in southwest Russia, to attend the BRICS summit of emerging economies.

BRICS stands for original members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping, often referred to as a counterweight to the Western-led world, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia, too, has been invited to join.

Pashinyan, according to his office, will spend one day in Kazan although the summit will last for three days.

The BRICS nations account for 45% of the global population. Added together, members' economies are worth more than US$28.5 trillion, around 30% of the global economy.

Pashinyan, after touching down in Kazan, met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the two are said to have discussed regional and international issues and economic and energy cooperation.

The Armenian prime minister also briefly met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, who arrived in Kazan on Wednesday, is the only leader of a NATO country to take part in the summit.

Erdoğan expressed a wish to “develop our relationship with the BRICS” in a speech Tuesday for members of his party.

Also attending the summit are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian PM   Narendra Modi.

Photo: Rustam Minnikhanov, Head of the Republic of Tatarstan, welcomed Pashinyan to Kazan. (@primeminister.am)