The global role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS group has been growing, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the heads of global news outlets in St. Petersburg.
"The SCO has changed a lot, it has become a large international organization," the president said pointing out that India and Pakistan were going to obtain SCO membership. "It is now an important factor in the regional affairs," TASS cited Putin as saying.
"The same goes for the BRICS group. This organization was actually born here in St. Petersburg. At first, there were the three of us - Russia, China and India, but then Brazil and South Africa joined in. We believe that this is a very important platform to harmonize our positions," the Russian president concluded.
