S. Africa ready to host BRICS Summit

South Africa is ready to host this year's BRICS Summit and is expecting over 67 leaders from various parts of the world, said Naledi Pandor, the country's minister of international relations and cooperation.

BRICS comprises the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

While briefing the media in Pretoria on Monday, Pandor said the summit, scheduled for Aug 22-24, will not only strengthen cooperation between members of the bloc, but also bring benefits to the African continent and the Global South.

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed South Africa's readiness to host the 15th BRICS Summit. It is the first BRICS summit to be hosted in person since the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global travel restrictions," she said.

South Africa has been hosting the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, BRICS Civil Forum, BRICS Ministers of Communication, BRICS Ministers of Health, and BRICS Ministers of Science and Innovation as part of preparations for the summit.

Pandor said South Africa has invited leaders from Africa and the Global South to the BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue.

BRICS-Africa Outreach and BRICS Plus Dialogue will discuss how to strengthen a "mutually beneficial" BRICS-Africa partnership and the Global South, and build a multipolar world, she said.

She welcomed the constructive engagements that South Africa has hosted since January in the areas of politics and security, economic and financial, and social and people-to-people cooperation.

About 20 dignitaries from the African Union Commission, the United Nations and the regional economic blocs have been invited for a meeting to be held before the start of the summit.

Pandor said: "The 15th BRICS Summit is the venue and occasion for the voices of BRICS, Africa and the Global South to converge and be heard. We meet to reflect on the status of cooperation, to consider regional and global developments and to assess the status of global governance reform. We plan to leave the summit with concrete, practical and implementable plans to strengthen the BRICS-Africa partnership."

A total of 23 countries have applied to join the BRICS, whose leaders will discuss the criteria for expansion of the group during the summit, said Pandor. Some of these countries include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Center for China Studies in Abuja, Nigeria, said that the BRICS platform has become a consequential and formidable multilateral international mechanism, shaping the emerging trend of inclusive global governance.

The inclusive nature of BRICS will also bring more opportunities for BRICS-Africa cooperation, he said.