BRICS Summit in South Africa: Who is invited? What to expect from the meet?

South Africa is all set to host the 15th BRICS Summit next week. The bloc of major emerging economies derives its name from its five member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The summit, scheduled from 22-24 August in Johannesburg, will be the first in-person meet since 2019. This year’s theme is “BRICS and Africa”. The group, accounting for 40 per cent of the global population and 26 per cent of the global economy, aims to challenge the economic domination of the West. So, who is attending and what is the agenda? Let’s take a closer look. Guestlist and more As per reports, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are expected to mark their presence in Johannesburg next week. Confirming Xi’s visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on Friday, “At the invitation of President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, President Xi Jinping will attend the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and pay a state visit to South Africa from 21 to 24 August”. Russian president Vladimir Putin will be attending the summit virtually and not travel to South Africa due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for him over Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, reported Associated Press (AP). According to Reuters, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Putin in Johannesburg. A total of 69 countries have been invited to the next week’s BRICS summit, including all African nations, noted Al Jazeera. Invitations were also sent to leaders of Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean countries, Reuters reported citing South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor. Last week, Pandor said that BRICS nations wanted to show “global leadership in addressing the needs … of the majority of the world, namely … development and inclusion of the Global South in multilateral systems”.

Talks on expansion More than 40 nations, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Argentina, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt and Ethiopia, have shown interest in joining the BRICS group, as per the Reuters report.

The discussions on expanding the bloc are likely to be one of the top agendas of the summit.

However, BRICS leaders have different views about incorporating other members as well as on the admission criteria, the report added. China supports the group’s expansion. China’s foreign ministry told Reuters it “supports progress in expanding membership, and welcomes more like-minded partners to join the ‘BRICS family’ at an early date.” [caption id=“attachment_13013152” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] China is pushing for the expansion of the BRICS bloc. AP File Photo[/caption] When China hosted Algerian president Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Beijing in July, the Asian nation said in a joint statement that it “welcomes Algeria’s positive intention to join BRICS, and supports Algeria’s efforts to achieve this goal”, noted AFP.  Russia, which is facing diplomatic isolation over the Ukraine war, has also backed the expansion. As per Reuters, India is uncertain about it. New Delhi’s biggest concern is that BRICS should not become a “China-centric” bloc, reported Hindustan Times (HT). Earlier in August, Brazil’s da Silva said he favours more countries joining the BRICS group. “Possibly, in this meeting, we can already consensually decide which new countries can join BRICS,” Lula was quoted as saying by AP. “I am of the opinion that as many countries want to enter, if they are in compliance with the rules we are establishing, we will accept the countries’ entrance.” On why Global South nations want to join the BRICS grouping, Wang Youming, director of the department for developing countries studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told Beijing-headquartered state-run news channel CGTN, “Many countries want to join the BRICS system, as it can help establish an international power system commensurate with their economic size and break the imbalance in the current global governance system”. “Different from the exclusive club, the Group of Seven, or the G7, the BRICS spirit features mutual respect and understanding, equality, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness and consensus, which is also one of the reasons many countries want to join the mechanism,” the expert added. NDB, currency and more New Development Bank (NDB), commonly known as the BRICS bank, was set up as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in 2015. However, the bloc’s Shanghai-based bank has been hit by Western sanctions on member Russia. A Bloomberg report said that NDB’S president Dilma Rousseff will inform the assembly next week of steps to diversify its funding sources. [caption id=“attachment_13012932” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] New Development Bank (NDB) was set up in 2015. Reuters File Photo[/caption] The grouping could also resume talks on reducing the dollar’s dominance in payments, the report added. “Local currency use will help de-risk the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations”, South Africa’s finance minister Enoch Godongwana said, as per Reuters. The dollar has strengthened against emerging market currencies following Russia’s Ukraine war and as Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates to combat inflation early last year. A senior BRICS diplomat said that the leaders of the bloc will not raise the issue of a common BRICS currency during the South Africa summit, reported Reuters. “Proposals to be considered include increasing the use of members’ national currencies to trade and setting up a common payments system. A goal to create a common currency is viewed as a longer-term project,” according to Bloomberg. Many BRICS members, including India, have started settling bilateral trade deals in local currencies. Economic ties As per Reuters, the BRICS summit can see leaders deliberating on ways to improve economic cooperation in several sectors, including energy, infrastructure and digital economy. Citing data from Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Bloomberg reported that trade between BRICS members increased 56 per cent to $422 billion over the past five years. With inputs from agencies