Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend the BRICS summit to be held in Brazil this week. Prime Minister Li Keqiang will take his place in the summit. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed this on Wednesday. The 17th BRICS summit is going to be held from July 5 to 8 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also participate in it.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a media briefing that Prime Minister Li will attend the summit in Brazil. However, she refrained from answering questions on why Xi Jinping decided not to attend the summit.
He further said that he was never absent from the BRICS summit during his 12-year tenure. BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This group has been expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE.