The first China-Europe freight train from Chengdu to St. Petersburg arrives at Shushary railway station in St. Petersburg, Russia, March 15, 2021. (Xinhua)

With the expansion as a new starting point, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has entered a new era of "greater BRICS cooperation," Putin said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin highly values the collaboration between Russia and China on the international stage.

On the eve of his two-day state visit to China, which starts on Thursday, Putin stated in a written interview with Xinhua thatthe two countries hold similar or identical positions on key issues in the international agenda. Both advocate for the primacy role of international law, and support equal, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security at both the global and regional level with the UN's central coordinating role, he said, adding Russia and China also reject Western attempts to impose an order based on lies and hypocrisy, on some mythical rules of no one knows whose making.

Currently, multilateral mechanisms such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are uniting countries of the "Global South" in a spirit of equality, openness, transparency and inclusiveness, pushing for reforms in the global governance system.

Putin noted that with active participation from Russia and China, multilateral organizations and mechanisms that are independent of the West are successfully operating, saying that in their work they build on the principles of equality, justice, transparency, respect and consideration of each other's interests.

"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, which have well established themselves as key pillars of the emerging multipolar world order, can be cited as vivid examples of such mutually beneficial cooperation. They have come to be reputable and dynamic international platforms whose participants build constructive political, security, economic and cultural and people-to-people interaction. Hence the ever increasing interest of other states in the work of these associations and the growing number of their participants," Putin said.

With the expansion as a new starting point, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has entered a new era of "greater BRICS cooperation." Russia is the rotating chair of the BRICS this year.

Putin stated that Russia's BRICS Chairmanship has gained a steady momentum, saying that full-scale work is underway on all three main pillars of cooperation -- politics and security, the economy and finance, and people-to-people exchanges, with more than 200 events planned during its chairmanship.

"One of the main goals of the Russian Chairmanship is undoubtedly the seamless integration of the BRICS new members. We are actively assisting them in joining the existing network of cooperation mechanisms," he said.

Another priority is to seek to continue coordinated work to enhance the visibility of BRICS in global affairs and build its capacity to promote a more democratic, stable and fair architecture of international relations, he added.

"Cooperation within BRICS relies on the principles of mutual respect, equality, openness and consensus. That is why countries of the Global South and East, which see BRICS as a platform for their voices to be certainly heard and taken into account, find our association so attractive," Putin said.