South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is, until Thursday, the host in Johannesburg of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China. His Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in the South African economic capital on Monday, as did Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were expected on Tuesday morning. Under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate by videoconference.
The 15th Brics summit comes at a time when divisions on the international scene have been accentuated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. South Africa, China and India have not condemned Moscow since the start of the conflict, and Brazil has refused to join Western countries in sending arms to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Russia.
Mr. Ramaphosa on Sunday strongly reiterated his policy of “non-alignment”, saying that South Africa “will not allow itself to be drawn into a competition between world powers”. In an op-ed published Monday in South African media, President Xi Jinping said the leaders at the summit will urge the international community “to promote a greater role for the BRICS cooperation mechanism in global governance.”
Producing a quarter of the world’s wealth and comprising 42% of the world’s population, the BRICS have in common their demand for a more inclusive global political and economic balance, in particular vis-à-vis the United States and the EU. European Union. The group is looking to expand its influence and is considering expanding.
The question of enlargement mainly divides India and China, the two most powerful economies in the bloc. Beijing wants to develop its influence while Delhi is wary of the intentions of its regional rival. “In the long term, the rivalry between China and India is probably the biggest challenge the BRICS will face,” continued Rossouw.
Moreover, the decision-making process within the bloc, which requires consensus, constitutes a “major obstacle” on the question of possible expansion, underlines Jakkie Cilliers, of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. About fifty heads of state “friends of the Brics” are also expected at the summit. Pretoria also announced the arrival of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
