China on Wednesday said Premier Li Qiang will attend the BRICS Summit in Brazil later this week, confirming reports that President Xi Jinping will skip the meeting of the emerging economies for the first time since he took over power 12 years ago.

Li will attend the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 5 to 8 upon invitation, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing here. She, however, parried a question on why Xi, who never missed a BRICS summit during his 12-year tenure in power, decided to skip the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the Rio summit. BRICS consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has been expanded with five additional members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.