This comes as the West tightens sanctions on Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago, saying it wanted to denazify and demilitarise the country. Ukraine had expressed interest in joining the European Union and NATO.  

Xi says imposing of sanctions on other countries by using dominant positions on international financial and monetary bodies must be stopped. He has called during the virtual BRICS Forum on member countries to support each other to fight poverty and the growing food crisis in developing countries.

“We must improve micro policy coordination, keeping industrial supply chain and secure and unblock building world economy, defuse major risks and challenges to global development and strive for more inclusive and resilient economic growth”, Xi said.  

He called on BRICS countries to promote sustainable development.  

--SABC--