Members of the BRICS bloc of countries – including Brazil, China, Russia, and India are meeting for a summit in South Africa. The bloc is mooting an idea to add other countries like Argentina and Iran.
The BRICS nations see it as a counterweight to what they perceive as Western dominion of international institutions.
More than 40 new countries have requested to join what’s emerging as a focal point of disenchantment with the Western world.
On Sunday, Ramaphosa reassured concerned observers and domestic opponents that South Africa would “not be drawn into a contest between global powers” and sought to steer clear from the narratives of a world that was “increasingly polarised into competing camps”.
“Our decision not to align with any one of the global powers does not mean that we are neutral on matters of principle or national interest,” he said in a televised national address.
The summit seeks among other things to undermine the dominance of the US dollar in international trade transactions, which would open trade up to other nations looking to trade more with BRICS nations.
His Excellency Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation is in attendance with a delegation from the country. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, facing an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine will join the discussions virtually.