Leaders of the growing BRICS group of developing nations met in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, reaffirming the bloc's commitment to multilateral diplomacy. In his opening remarks, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said,

The BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as full members. This is the first leaders' summit to include Indonesia.

The leaders of the BRICS group of developing countries denounced the attacks on Iran, Gaza and Kashmir during their summit on Sunday, positioning the bloc as a champion of multilateral