15 other foreign ministers from countries in Africa, the Global South, and Friends of BRICS will join the five foreign ministers of the BRICS member states to hold a meeting in Cape Town, with the presence of Puttin despite the arrest warrant from ICC.
In its second decade, BRICS has become the most significant economic bloc in the world and is increasingly acknowledged as a driving force behind global growth.
With this grouping increasingly seen as a rival to the US-led liberal world order, the economic rise of BRICS also denotes a significant geopolitical shift.
For instance, the Group of Seven (G7), which is led by the US, has seen its collective gross domestic product (GDP) overtake it in purchasing power parity terms. While the G7’s share of global GDP decreased from 50 points 42 percent in 1982 to 30 points 39 percent in 2022, the BRICS’ GDP increased from 10 points 66 percent to 31 points 59 percent during the same time period.
The BRICS economies, particularly those of China and India, continue to demonstrate strong potential while the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the G7 economies.
Given that BRICS is viewed as Russia’s most dependable partner, the Ukraine conflict has further paved the way for the group to become more influential.
The BRICS countries have not joined forces with Western economic sanctions that aim to bind other countries to obligations.
South Africa, the current chair of BRICS, has prioritized the group’s playing a greater role in resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russia while the United States has been busy building a coalition of around 50 nations to supply Ukraine for its war efforts.
This amply reflects the bold new BRICS. South Africa has said it will uphold diplomatic immunity for all Russian officials, despite the International Criminal Court having issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These five countries’ discussions about BRICS are made interesting and intriguing by the group’s confidence and enthusiasm, which extends beyond these five.
For instance, 20 countries have officially applied to join the BRICS grouping, out of the roughly two dozen countries that have expressed interest.
Worldwide nations such as Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Thailand, and Venezuela are among the applicants.
The main strategy for enhancing the forum has been to increase intra-BRICS trade. Recently, there has been a greater emphasis on finding alternatives to lessen their reliance on the US dollar, and this week, it is anticipated that the creation of the BRICS currency will be at the top of their agenda.
The Democratic Alliance Party, the largest opposition group in South Africa, announced on Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit to compel the government to detain Russian President Vladimir Putin should he show up for a summit there.
President Vladimir Putin, who will travel to Cape Town for a meeting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in August, has had an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court since March.
In the event that President Putin enters South Africa, the Democratic Alliance Party announced on Tuesday that it had filed a legal action to force the government to detain and hand over the Russian leader to the ICC.
The pressure the West is putting on his nation has been denounced by the secretary general of the African National Congress.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, declared on Tuesday that Russia will participate in the summit at the appropriate level.
The BRICS foreign ministers meeting will take place in Cape Town at the end of this week, according to Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia.
Putin had been invited to the summit, according to previous statements by Russian officials.
This comes after the South African government granted diplomatic immunity to representatives attending this week’s BRICS foreign ministers meeting as well as the group’s heads of state summit in August.
