SA chairing Brics to start golden decade
ON January 1, South Africa assumed the rotational chairship of the Brics Forum and will host the 10th Brics Summit in Johannesburg from July 25 to 27.
The summit has a special significance in the Brics historical trajectory as it concludes the first decade of the Brics engagement at the highest diplomatic level and starts the second “golden decade”.
Brics forms an integral part of our foreign policy and builds on international relations developed since the dawn of democracy under the leadership of President Nelson Mandela.
We are honoured to be hosting the 10th Brics Summit during a year in which we celebrate the centenary of the father of our nation.
Co-operation within the Brics Forum is founded on the “Sanya Principles”: openness, solidarity and mutual assistance, as adopted by leaders at the 2011 Brics Summit in Sanya.
South Africa views Brics as a platform that serves as an amplified voice to advocate the shared interests of emerging markets and developing countries, in particular to advance the reform of the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions.
Brics subscribes to shared core principles, notably upholding the principle of multilateralism and the central role of the UN.
Since South Africa’s accession to the group in December 2010, the developmental needs and aspirations of the Global South, as well as those of Africa, as contained in the AU’S Agenda 2063, have been fully incorporated into the Brics agenda.
These needs and aspirations continue to be carried forward into other forums, such as the G20 and the UN.
South Africa hosted the fifth Brics Summit (in ethekwini) in 2013 and the notable deliverables of that include the establishment of the Brics Think Tanks Council and the Brics Business Council.
Brics has subsequently intensified its programme of institution-building as evidenced by the launch of the New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai and the Africa Regional Centre (ARC) in Johannesburg, and the establishment of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
On the occasion of the ethekwini summit, South Africa also took the initiative of hosting a Brics dialogue with partners from Africa on Africa’s industrialisation and infrastructure development agenda, initiating an outreach mechanism in accordance with the provision made in the Sanya declaration that “we are open to increasing engagement and co-operation with non-brics countries, in particular emerging and developing countries, and relevant international and regional organisations”.
Shared prosperity
This practice has been further developed by successive Brics chairs and South Africa will continue with this initiative during its tenure as chair.
In celebration of the second decade of Brics co-operation, the Johannesburg summit will be focused on areas related to developing countries, namely inclusive growth and shared prosperity.
In pursuance of national, continental and global interests, South Africa, during its Brics tenure, will prioritise developmental initiatives such as women and gender empowerment, peace for development, economic co-operation for greater industrialisation and continued institution-building.
In advancing these objectives, it will be vital not only to review the past achievements of Brics but also to commit to the consolidation of strategic and practical co-operation and to further foster institutional development.
As we move forward, we do so with the intention of solidifying our bonds of co-operation within Brics and with our partners in Africa and the developing world.
We remain firm in our commitment to continue to strive for the creation of a better life and world for all mankind.