Xi to attend BRICS summit in S Africa

BEIJING - China's new president will attend the fifth leaders' summit of BRICS countries in South Africa, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here Saturday.

The visit by the new president will give impetus to the strengthening of partnership among BRICS countries, improvement of the BRICS mechanism, and the promotion of cooperation between BRICS nations and African countries as well as countries in other regions, Yang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

BRICS is an economic bloc representing five of the world's leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

South Africa is to host the BRICS summit in Durban on March 26-27.