What to Expect from BRICS Summit 2023 in South Africa
The 15th BRICS Summit will kick off in Johannesburg on 22-24 August. The BRICS Business Summit, set to take place on 24 August, will be attended by over 50 leaders from the Global South.
SputnikThe expansion of the BRICS club— Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — will take the centre stage next week as leaders of these nations convene for the top-level event hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Johannesburg next week.
South Africa has confirmed that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in attendance at the leaders' meeting.
Addressing the Sherpa and Sous Sherpa meeting, which kicked off in Johannesburg on Thursday, South Africa’s BRICS Sherpa Ambassador Anil Sooklal highlighted that the leaders’ meeting has
attracted global attention not only because of its proposed expansion, but also because of the ‘BRICS Business Summit’ on 24 August.
Nearly 70 leaders from the Global South, including all African heads of states, have been invited for the Business Summit, Sooklal has said, adding that 50 of them have confirmed their attendance, describing it as the largest “outreach” to the Global South till date.
Pretoria has indicated that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would be among the Global South leaders who would be attending the outreach meetings.
What Issues Are on BRICS Agenda?
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said during a press briefing this month that 40 countries have expressed their interest in
joining the BRICS club.
The top South African diplomat said that 20 countries have formally applied to join the association.
According to the South African foreign ministry, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others have expressed an interest in joining the five-nation club.
All the five BRICS states have backed the push to expand the group’s membership base, albeit the “criteria” and “guidelines” to welcome aboard new members is still being negotiated.
The sherpa and sous-sherpas of BRICS nations will present the final report on the criteria for expansion to their respective foreign ministers, who will then present these recommendations to the leaders at the Summit, Pandor specified.
The “final call” on the criteria and which countries to welcome to the club will be taken by the leaders, she said.
Pandor has said that BRICS states intend on showing global leadership in addressing the concerns of the Global South and in advancing the representation of developing states in the global decision-making process.
Lavrov told the
11th Moscow Conference on International Security this week that an expanded BRICS
will increase its political weight on the global stage and undoubtedly strengthen the group.
Sooklal has said that Dilma Rousseff, president of BRICS-backed New Development Bank (NDB), will be attending the top-level event amid an ongoing push by developing nations to diminish global reliance on US dollar in bilateral and international transactions.
The Shanghai-headquartered NDB, created by BRICS in 2015, has approved financing of nearly $33 billion for infrastructure, renewable energy, sanitation and drinking water and other projects to date.
The NDB is considered to be a potential rival to the World Bank and other Western-dominated lending institutions.
Bangladesh and the UAE became members of the NDB in 2021, while Egypt joined up as a formal member this year.
President Putin has said that nearly 80 percent of bilateral trade between Moscow and Beijing, which hit a record of $190 billion last year, was being carried out in local currencies.
Meanwhile, India, the world’s second-biggest market and the fifth-largest economy, announced in its Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) for 2023-28 that it would
encourage the use of the Indian Rupee.
The world’s third-largest energy importer said this week that it executed its
first-ever crude oil transaction under the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) with the UAE, according to an official statement.
South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Reuters this month that boosting local currency usage among NDB members would be on the BRICS Summit's agenda.
He said that many NDB members have been encouraging the Shanghai-based bank to provide loans in national currencies instead of the Greenback.
Godongwana refused to characterize this as “de-dollarization” per se, but analysts say that local currency transactions will inadvertently lead to the US dollar waning in influence.
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has said that the idea of floating a BRICS currency wasn’t on the cards at the summit this year.
Promoting Economic Links Between Africa and Global South The BRICS Business Summit is being held under the theme of BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism, according to the South African presidency.
The official statement said that a key aim of the meeting is to “strengthen” trade and investment links between BRICS and African nations.
What’s the BRICS Summit's Significance in South Africa?
Ambassador (Retd.) Anil Trigunayat, India’s former envoy to Jordan, Libya and Malta, told Sputnik that BRICS has “re-acquired a certain heft and attractiveness” among developing nations because of the “uncertain geopolitics”.
“It is clearly evident from over three dozen countries across continents wanting to join it,” Trigunayat said. “With China and India as major drivers of economic growth and markets, the countries are curious to partake in the pivoted opportunities of the Global South.”
Both China and India are the world’s biggest markets and the fastest-growing major economies.
“In fact, BRICS might eventually become a new G-20 if it is able to overcome the intra-member competition and seriously and sincerely addresses global challenges,” Trigunayat noted.
The former Indian envoy reckoned that the push to expand BRICS and devising an “alternate currency architecture” will be an imparted momentum at the upcoming BRICS Summit.