BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Brazil for a meeting of BRICS countries and then Egypt next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“Li Qiang will attend the 17th BRICS Summit upon invitation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 5 to 8,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

Beijing and Moscow have hailed the BRICS club as a counterweight to what they see as Western hegemony on the world stage.

A loose grouping of countries named after founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China, its members pledge to boost trade and cooperation, though it is not a trade pact and has few institutional ties.

The Kremlin said last week, however, that President Vladimir Putin would not travel to Brazil for the upcoming summit due to the outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant on the Russian president.

Following his visit to Brazil, Li will then “pay an official visit to Egypt from July 9 to 10,” Beijing said.

Beijing has sought to frame itself as a mediator in the Middle East, facilitating a 2023 rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran and portraying itself as a more neutral actor in the Israel-Palestinian conflict than its rival the United States.