The heads and representatives of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) space agencies held the first joint committee meeting on space cooperation in a video call, as announced by the China National Space Administration on Wednesday.

"The first meeting of the BRICS Joint Committee on Space Cooperation was successfully held on the evening of May 25 in the format of a video conference, which marked the official creation of the BRICS Joint Committee on Space Cooperation, which opens a new chapter in cooperation on joint observations and data exchange of the BRICS remote sensing satellite constellation," the Chinese space agency said in a statement.

It is expected that the joint committee will help BRICS countries employ remote sensing satellite constellation for national development in order to enhance cooperation between the space agencies of the respective countries, particularly regarding environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, and climate change response, according to Zhang Kejian, the head of the agency.

In 2021, BRICS countries signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of constellation of Earth observation satellites, which consists of six satellites: Two Chinese, two Indian, one Russian, and one joint-development between China and Brazil.

BRICS countries discuss deeper cooperation

Last Thursday, foreign ministers from the BRICS group of developing economies discussed measures to strengthen the regional and international collaboration among the five nations.

Top ambassadors from Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates later joined Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The meeting, which was held virtually under Chinese chairmanship, focused on "strengthening the collective approach to global affairs, regional conflicts, battling new threats and challenges," and the  "outlooks for five-nation cooperation," according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The diplomats discussed "furthering intra-BRICS cooperation on the three pillars of political and security, economic and finance and people-to-people and cultural exchanges," according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, and endorsed the UN health agency in its fight against the pandemic.

The ministers also reviewed the situation in Ukraine and backed Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, informed the ministers of the situation in Ukraine, including the Russian military campaign to wrest authority from nationalist groups.