South Africa preparing to host BRICS leaders in August: Sherpa

South Africa has begun preparing to host all BRICS leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of their participation in the August summit, Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s Sherpa in BRICS told Russian news agency Sputnik.

The official underlined that it has been confirmed that all leaders will be attending the summit after Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in March that no decision had been made regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation.

According to Sooklal, the Russian President had received the invitation sent by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and did not express any disavowals. The African nation is preparing for a full-fledged summit, he underlined.

Furthermore, he raised concerns over the US-led West’s pressure on Russia, including unilateral sanctions against Moscow, stressing that sanctions imposed by the United Nations were the only ones considered by Cape Town.

South Africa’s international relations minister Naledi Pandor said her country would not cut ties with Russia as per the wishes of third parties or countries. 

She further said that her country has currently been granted the BRICS presidency for this year in January and she was looking forward to further collaborating with Russia within the BRICS framework.

Furthermore, the Sherpa underlined that his country’s ties to Russia were now stronger than ever, noting that cooperation among BRICS member states was only growing stronger, becoming more intense in light of Western pressures as numerous states are voicing their aspirations to join the group.

A geological platform for BRICS?

High-raking Russian and South African officials discussed the prospect of establishing a “geological platform” for BRICS, the Russian Natural Resources Ministry said in late March.

“Alexander Kozlov, the minister of natural resources and environment of the Russian Federation, met with Mosa Mabuza, the chief executive officer of the Council of Geoscience of South Africa. The main topic of the discussion was establishing a ‘geological platform’ of the BRICS member states,” the ministry said.

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Meetings between geological experts of the BRICS nations will serve as the first stage for developing the platform; after which a memorandum will be adopted, according to the Russian ministry’s statement. 

BRICS members account for 30% of the global gross output and 40% of the global population. The bloc includes the world’s major developing countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It was also announced, recently, that a handful of medium-sized economies intend to join the bloc: Argentina, Algeria Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. 

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This comes at a time when BRICS countries are de-dollarizing trade, as China and Brazil struck last week a deal to ditch the US dollar in their bilateral transactions, which is expected to reduce investment costs and develop economic ties between the two countries.

India also tore into the greenback, as the country’s Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal announced last Sunday that the Indian rupee (IND) may now be used as a trade currency to substitute the use of the US dollar in foreign trade.

The new policy was hailed as “dynamic and responsive” and is intended to be used in trade with countries that are facing a shortage of dollars or currency failure in the wake of the Fed’s sharpest tightening of monetary policy in decades.

The BRICS have recently agreed to create their own currency. However, details have not been disclosed yet as members are expected to participate and share their ideas on the matter in a forthcoming session of the BRICS summit in August 2017.