Russia postpones BRICS, SCO summits slated for July amid COVID-19 crisis

Russia on Wednesday postponed upcoming BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summits in view of Coronavirus pandemic and said new dates for m will be determined on  basis of  epidemiological situation in  countries participating in se associations, and around  world. Russia is current chair of BRICS and SCO and summits were due in late July.

In a statement, Kremlin said, "In view of  coronavirus pandemic and  related restrictions,  Organising Committee to Prepare and Support Russia’s SCO Presidency in 2019–2020 and BRICS Chairmanship in 2020 decided to postpone  BRICS leers’ meeting and  meetings of  SCO Hes of State Council, initially scheduled to take place on July 21–23, 2020, in St Petersburg.  new dates for se summits will be determined on  basis of  epidemiological situation in  states participating in se associations, and around  world."

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Coronavirus pandemic

decision comes as number of COVID-19 cases in world has crossed 5.6 million and has topped death toll past 3.5 lakh. Russia is third hardest-hit country in world reporting over 3.7 lakh cases so far, but with a very low death toll of under 4,000. China, a key member of both BRICS and SCO and where coronavirus originated, has grually reopened country after containing outbreak, though figures have been contested.

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Multilateral groups

 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a permanent inter-governmental international organisation led by China. SCO members include China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. grouping is primarily focused on security and ecomic cooperation.

BRICS, on or hand, is an international association of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and is a key multilateral forum of developing world. bloc has promoted cooperation in fields of ecomy, finance, tre, and culture. previous summit was held in vember last year in Brazil.

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