President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a contingent of his cabinet to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin will host heads of state for the annual Brics+ summit this week.
The Presidency announced Ramaphosa had arrived in Kazan on Tuesday morning accompanied by minister of international relations and co-operation Ronald Lamola, minister of defence and military veterans Angie Motshekga, minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, and minister of trade, industry and competition Parks Tau.
The summit is expected to discuss further expansion of its membership after it successfully introduced new members last year when Ramaphosa hosted the summit in Johannesburg.
This is the first time leaders of the Brics+ will meet since the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Brazil's President Luiz Lula da Silva has reportedly announced he would not attend the summit due to an injury.
Da Silva is said to be against the inclusion of neighbouring Venezuela in the forum. The two Latin American countries have historically shared strong economic ties, but this changed after Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro's re-election, with Brazil's president joining international observers who condemned the elections as illegitimate, and Lula labelling Maduro's regime “authoritarian”.
Putin has invited at least 20 countries which have shown an appetite to join the forum to participate at the summit.
The Brics summit, considered to be the Global South's counter to the western superpowers' G7 forum, will reflect on the status of mutually beneficial Brics co-operation, regional and global economic and political developments and global governance reform.
The Presidency said the forum will consider reports requested during the Johannesburg summit, including a report by Brics foreign ministers on further development of the Brics Partner Country model and prospective candidates, and a report by Brics finance ministers on consideration of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms.
The summit will also hear reports from the New Development Bank, Brics Interbank Co-operation Mechanism, Brics Business Council and Brics Women’s Business Alliance.
Moscow is also expected to intensify talks over de-dollarisation, which had previously received support from Africa and some emerging economies, moving away from the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
Ramaphosa and his Brazilian counterpart raised the matter during the finance summit in Paris last year.
During a meeting of Brics foreign ministers in June 2023, the bloc stated its meeting underscored the importance of encouraging the use of local currencies in international trade and financial transactions between Brics nations and their trading partners.
However, US acting deputy secretary of state Victoria Nuland downplayed the debate during an interview with the Mail & Guardian, saying it would not be easy.
Russia's war in Ukraine as well as the expansion of the UN Security Council (UNSC) will also form part of the discussions. Washington recently announced it would support the inclusion of two African countries to the UNSC without veto powers.
This has been regarded as an insult by some African countries, including South Africa.
While South Africa has deep ties with Russia and China, both countries have shown no willingness to support Africa and Latin America's call for permanent UNSC status.
The Presidency said the meeting would present an opportunity for Ramaphosa to communicate priorities of the seventh administration, highlight the strategic importance of the Russian Federation to South Africa, and exchange views with Putin on issues of mutual interest.
Ramaphosa is also expected to hold bilateral meetings to discuss political and economic relations. Ramaphosa recently travelled with his cabinet to China to discuss trade relations.
While the Presidency did not share whether it would discuss the war in Gaza, it is likely to form part of the discussions. Egypt is among the countries which have been trying to facilitate a truce between Hamas and the Israeli government.
Ramaphosa will deliver official statements on Wednesday and Thursday at the Brics plenary session themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security” and during the summit outreach held under the theme “Brics and Global South: building a better world together”.
The Presidency said: “The aim of the dialogue is to enhance Brics ties with leading developing economies. Brics plays an important role in a multipolar world, championing multilateralism, mutually beneficial co-operation and sustainable development.
“A founding value of Brics is the shared vision of the urgent need to restructure global political, economic and financial governance to be more fair, just and representative. The expanded Brics covers 43% of the world's population, 32% of the world's land area, around 35% of global GDP and 20% of world exports and provides opportunities to develop mutually beneficial co-operation that contributes to the sustainable growth and development of South Africa.”
TimesLIVE
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