BRICS summit to begin in South Africa
Baku, August 22, AZERTAC
The 15th summit of the BRICS group of nations, bringing together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will begin in Johannesburg on Tuesday, according to TASS.
The event, chaired by South Africa, will be held under the theme ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism.’
The summit’s chairman, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has also sent invitations to over 60 heads of states and governments from Africa and developing nations from other regions of the world. The summit will continue for three days.
On the final day of the summit, a meeting in the Friends of BRICS format will be held. South Africa expects the event to become a forum of the Global South, aimed at multiplying its international clout and promoting the reform of the entire system of international relations. At the same time, South Africa views BRICS as the leader of the Global South, which spearheads the process of creating a fairer world order.
Organizers of the event have told TASS that issues that are to be raised at the summit had been combined in three thematic groups: strengthening and expanding economic and financial cooperation; further coordination of moves in the spheres of politics and security; humanitarian issues and the encouragement of social and cultural cooperation among peoples.
The summit will also look into issues that cause concern among the leaders of the BRICS nations, including unilateral restrictions that are being imposed by some countries and are incompatible with the UN charter. This policy of sanctions has a most negative effect on the global affairs and on the humanity’s collective ability to resolve current problems.
Energy issues will also be high on the summit’s agenda. During preparations for the summit, energy security was declared to be a foundation for economic development, social stability and prosperity of all nations worldwide. To that end, stable supply of fuel to global markets needs to be ensured.
The fight against terrorism and extremism was also included into the summit’s agenda. Documents prepared for the meeting underscore that a complex approach should be employed during anti-terrorism efforts, while double standards must be ruled out. Social networks, used by terror groups to recruit new members and spread calls for violence, require a special attention in this context.
Amid the rapid growth of the BRICS group’s international clout, many countries chose to request to join the group. Lately, BRICS found itself in a situation where more than 50 countries from various parts of the world are actively seeking membership, said Anil Sooklal, South Africa's BRICS Sherpa and Ambassador-at-Large for Asia and BRICS.
In his words, BRICS sherpas have been drafting the concept of admitting new members since January. This document will be brought before the Johannesburg summit. According to South Africa’s foreign ministry, formal membership applications have been filed by Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Cuba, Honduras, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Nigeria, the Palestinian state, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia.
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