India, which presides over BRICS this year, has sent invitations to heads of state and government for the association’s September summit, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters. "We are preparing [for the summit] and have already sent out invitations," the diplomat said, without specifying whether India had received any responses. According to Jaiswal, invitations have also been sent to several heads of international associations to take part in a BRICS Outreach session. Earlier, a government source told TASS that India had forwarded an invitation to Russia to participate in the upcoming BRICS summit. The 18th BRICS summit will take place in New Delhi on September 12-13.