Xi attends breakfast meeting with BRICS leaders

DURBAN, South Africa - Chinese President Xi Jinping attended here Wednesday a breakfast meeting between political and business leaders of BRICS.

At the meeting, business representatives, who attended the BRICS Business Forum in Durban Tuesday, are expected to report the outcome of the forum to the leaders, including their recommendations on the development of infrastructure, mining, agriculture, finance and energy in the BRICS countries.

The gathering came on the sidelines of the fifth summit of BRICS, an emerging-economy group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

South Africa, host of the summit, has said that the creation of a BRICS Business Council will be announced at the breakfast meeting.

Under the theme of "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Development, Integration and Industrialization," BRICS leaders will later today mull establishing a development bank and foreign exchange reserve pool, according to official sources.

They will also have a dialogue with African leaders to promote cooperation between the BRICS countries and Africa.

Xi, who is on his first trip abroad as Chinese president, is expected to outline China's viewpoints on BRICS-Africa cooperation.