BRICS dialogue on peacekeeping held in Moscow

The first meeting of BRICS representatives on peacekeeping was held in Moscow on 11 December. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister and BRICS Sherpa Sergei Ryabkov delivered the opening remarks.

After the opening remarks, experts discussed the current challenges of peacekeeping and the BRICS countries' possible assistance in enhancing the effectiveness of UN peace operations.

They also exchanged opinions on the training of military and police peacekeepers in the BRICS countries and discussed plans for cooperation in peace operations.

The event was attended by delegates from the Police Peacekeepers Training Centre of the Russian Interior Ministry's Institute of Advanced Training, the Russian Defence Ministry's International Mine Action Centre, the CSTO Secretariat, as well as Russian and Chinese members of the High-level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations, which has been recently established at the initiative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Meeting participants noted the BRICS' unique peacemaking potential and spoke in favour of closely coordinating BRICS countries' positions in this regard, including at the level of permanent missions to the United Nations in New York and in the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.