Sunday Tribune

SA chairing Brics to start golden decade

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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.

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