Actively support Russia's move to expand BRICS bloc, says China

"China will work on BRICS-related parties to continue to have in-depth discussions on BRICS expansion and determine the standards and procedures for that on the basis of consensus.

China, which is holding the rotating Presidency of BRICS bloc this year, said on Friday that it actively supports the expansion of the five-member group, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Saudi Arabia and Argentina desired to join the grouping.

Riyadh and Buenos Aires have shown interest in BRICS activities, Russia's state-run Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying in an interview on Thursday.

"The interest in it (BRICS) is shown by our Saudi friends and Argentina, which stated the desire to become a full-fledged BRICS member, coming from the mouth of its (Argentina) Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero,"