Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting a summit of the BRICS inter-governmental organisation in the city of Kazan from Tuesday to Thursday.

The summit brings together 24 heads of state and government and is seen by Putin as part of an initiative to create a new world order to end the dominance of the U.S.

Prominent among the guests was Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Representatives from a total of 32 countries would attend.

The original members of BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and have been joined by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran among others.

The status of Saudi Arabia has yet to be clear. .

Russia, which currently chairs the organisation, announced that Saudi Arabia would be accepted as a member country at the start of the year.

But there has been no confirmation from Riyadh that Saudi Arabia would be represented at the summit by its foreign minister.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Saudi Arabia’s status would be cleared up at the summit.

Turkey is to participate as an interested party.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Mr Putin said a central aim would be promoting financial cooperation and providing an alternative to the SWIFT network, through which international payments are routed.

Many Russian banks were banned from the network after its invasion of Ukraine.

Setting up a joint bank is also on the BRICS agenda. 

(dpa/NAN)