Putin holds talks with South African, Egyptian, Malaysian leaders at BRICS

Russian President Vladimir Putin held separate meetings with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi to discuss bilateral ties and trade growth. The Russian leader arrived in India earlier in the day to attend the 18th BRICS summit taking place over the weekend.

South Africa talks

In his talks with Ramaphosa, Putin said Russia-South Africa relations are developing successfully across political dialogue, parliamentary exchanges and humanitarian affairs, noting that bilateral trade continues to expand. He announced that Moscow has increased its scholarship quota for South African students to 100 for the 2026-27 academic year and thanked South Africa for supporting Russian initiatives at the United Nations. Putin said Moscow and Pretoria share similar approaches to major international issues, while Ramaphosa thanked the Russian leader for supporting South Africa’s G20 presidency and confirmed that Pretoria would send a strong delegation to the Russia-Africa summit scheduled for Oct. 28-29 in Moscow.

Egypt cooperation

During his meeting with el-Sisi, Putin highlighted that trade between Russia and Egypt is growing steadily and that major joint projects are progressing on schedule despite existing challenges. He invited the Egyptian leader to Moscow in October for the Russia-Africa summit and emphasized that Cairo’s position on regional and global issues remains important to Moscow. El-Sisi noted that bilateral trade has surpassed $10 billion and pointed to cooperation on the El Dabaa nuclear power plant being built by Russia’s Rosatom. He added that Egypt relies heavily on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine and that stable supplies remain a key concern for Cairo.

Malaysia meeting

In talks with Anwar Ibrahim, Putin said bilateral trade with Malaysia rose 12.9% last year as the two leaders discussed expanding cooperation in energy, education, technology and tourism. The Russian president arrived in India earlier on Friday to attend the 18th BRICS summit, which is taking place on Saturday and Sunday with a focus on strengthening multilateral cooperation among emerging economies.