August 21/22, 2023 -
Information Clearing House
- JOHANNESBURG –
Leaders of the Brics emerging
economies, which account for
about a quarter of the world’s
wealth, meet in Johannesburg
this week looking to widen the
bloc’s influence and push for a
shift in global geopolitics.
South Africa’s President Cyril
Ramaphosa is expected to host
China’s President Xi Jinping,
India’s Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva for the
annual three-day summit starting
on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin also will join remotely.
Mr Putin decided against
attending in person, as he
is the target of an
International Criminal Court
arrest warrant that South
Africa is in theory bound to
enforce if he sets foot in the
country.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov will travel to
Johannesburg instead.
Representing billions of
people across three continents,
with economies undergoing
varying levels of growth, Brics
countries share one thing in
common – disdain for a world
order they see as serving the
interests of rich Western
powers.
The grouping
comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China,
and South Africa.
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“The traditional global
governing system has become
dysfunctional, deficient and
missing in action,” Mr Chen
Xiaodong, the Chinese ambassador
to Pretoria, said at a briefing
on Friday, adding that Brics is
“increasingly becoming a staunch
force in defending international
justice”.
There is growing interest in
the bloc – at least 40 countries
have expressed interest in
joining, and 23 of those have
formally submitted applications
to become Brics members.
‘Polarised world’
Mr Anil Sooklal, South
Africa’s ambassador-at-large for
Asia and Brics, told AFP on
Friday that one of the reasons
countries are lining up to join
is “the very polarised world we
live in, that has been further
polarised by the Russia-Ukraine
crisis, and where countries are
being forced to take sides”.
“Countries in the South don’t
want to be told who to support,
how to behave and how to conduct
their sovereign affairs. They
are strong enough now to assert
their respective positions,”
added Mr Sooklal.
Brics has raised hope for
countries looking to restructure
the global “architecture”, he
said.
“The major markets are now in
the Global South... but we are
still on the margins in terms of
global decision-making.”
Dr Lebogang Legodi,
international politics lecturer
at the University of Limpopo,
agrees that many states keen on
joining the group “are seeing
Brics as an alternative to the
current hegemony” in world
affairs.
Around 50 other leaders will
attend a “friends of Brics”
programme during the summit,
which will be held at a
convention centre in the heart
of Johannesburg’s Sandton,
historically referred to as the
richest square mile on the
continent.
This year’s gathering is
themed “Brics and Africa:
Partnership for mutually
accelerated growth, sustainable
development and inclusive
multilateralism”.