A BRICS summit in Johannesburg this month will search to boost the five-nation grouping’s commerce ties with Africa, host South Africa stated on Monday 7 August 2023.
The continent has emerged as a renewed diplomatic battleground, with the West, Russia and China vying for affect amid heightened competitors for minerals and worldwide divisions fostered by the battle in Ukraine.
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When is the summit scheduled for?
The heads of Brazil, China, India and South Africa, plus Russia’s prime diplomat, will collect on August 22-24 underneath the theme “BRICS and Africa”, in keeping with South Africa’s International Minister Naledi Pandor.
“Our theme displays our perception in the advantages a partnership with Africa can carry to BRICS,” Pandor informed a press convention. BRICS, an acronym for its member international locations, sees itself as a counterweight to Western financial domination.
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Talks may also concentrate on drumming up investments throughout the continent, Pandor stated, including representatives from different African international locations will probably be in attendance.
China confirms attendance on the BRICS
China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi have all confirmed they are going to be in Johannesburg after hypothesis the latter may pull out.
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Russia will probably be represented by International Minister Sergei Lavrov, with Russian President Vladimir Putin collaborating on-line. Putin determined towards attending in particular person as he’s the goal of an Worldwide Prison Courtroom arrest warrant that South Africa is, in concept, certain to implement.
Pandor laughed off the potential of Emmanuel Macron displaying up after the French President made it identified he was desirous about collaborating. “It’s fairly amusing,” Pandor stated, asking whether or not the French chief would attend. “No invitation has been issued in that regard”.
zam/ub/cw© Agence France-Presse
