Ufa (Russia), Jul 9 (IANS): Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended the seventh BRICS summit in the southwestern Russian city of Ufa.

It is the third time for Xi has attended the annual summit of the emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Xinhua news agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Jacob Zuma also attended the summit, which is themed "BRICS partnership: A powerful factor for global development".

The five leaders are expected to exchange views on enhancing cooperation among BRICS countries and on international and regional issues of common concern. Their consensus will be included in the Ufa Declaration to be issued afterwards.

The leaders will also hold dialogues with leaders from member states and observer states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Eurasia Economic Union, joined by heads of international agencies and representatives of the BRICS Business Council.

The SCO is a permanent regional association founded in Shanghai, China, on June 15, 2001. Its priority tasks include joint counter-action to terrorism and extremism, cooperation in education as well as in the energy, oil and gas, transport, communication and other spheres.

The SCO comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status, while Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka are partners for dialogue.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an international organisation for regional economic integration. Its member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

According to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping, the BRICS leaders will draft a blueprint for economic and trade cooperation of the bloc by passing a "BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy".