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According to French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, French President Emmanuel Macron aspires to be the first Western leader to be invited to a BRICS summit. 

France's Foreign Minister made the comments during a press conference in Pretoria with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

Read more: New BRICS currency set to revolutionize world economy: The Post

Earlier On June 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed in an interview with RT that the BRICS nations had initiated efforts to align their positions on accepting new members into the group of emerging economies. 

The French FM stated that “having a dialogue is always positive, even when we don’t 100 percent agree on everything," adding that the decision is "obviously" that of only relevant countries involved in BRICS.

Macron would be the first Western leader to attend if he is invited. 

The South African minister stated that an invitation would ultimately be the decision of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will chair the next meeting.

According to Pandor “If that were to happen, this would be an innovation within the current BRICS participation model, but it could amplify the BRICS forum’s global reach."

Ramaphosa and Macron will be together in Paris this week for the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, so the matter might be broached.

In a related context, just a day after Bangladesh announced that it submitted its application for BRICS membership, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Tuesday that Beijing welcomes more countries to join the BRICS organization as the move would strengthen the representation and voices of emerging countries.