President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday said South Africa saw its BRICS partner, Russia, as a “valued ally” in global trade and geopolitics.
Ramaphosa yesterday held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia.
“We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend who supported us right from the beginning, from the days of our struggle against Apartheid up until now,” Ramaphosa said
“So, we are really delighted to be here and to know that we are going to have very important discussions here in Kazan, within the BRICS family.”
Ramaphosa arrived in Kazan yesterday morning to lead South Africa’s participation in the XVI BRICS Summit, which is held under the theme: “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”.
The delegation includes Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau, and Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga.
In the meeting with Putin, Ramaphosa communicated the priorities of the seventh administration, highlighting the strategic importance of the Russian Federation to South Africa, and exchanged views with Putin on issues of mutual interest.
“We have formed a Government of National Unity following our elections in May of this year. We will have time…to talk more about that and inform you how that whole process of governing South Africa with a number of other partners is evolving as we have sought to unite the country, to stabilise the country politically,” he said.
Ramaphosa also congratulated Putin for Russia to have assumed the chairmanship of BRICS, saying he had confidence in Putin to steer the BRICS bloc.
“We would like to congratulate you for being the President of BRICS having taken over from us. As South Africa we are sure that we will be able to chair our summit so that BRICS and the enlarged BRICS body can continue growing,” he said.
“We also do look forward to the Summit itself, to participate with all other countries under your leadership and deal with matters that are of great importance in geopolitical terms and everything that is happening around the world and also, the matters that have to do with trade and climate change [and] with peace and security.”
Ramaphosa also held several bilateral meetings with leaders attending the BRICS Summit to strengthen political and economic relations in line with South Africa’s national interests and foreign policy priorities.
Before departing for the Summit, Ramaphosa called on fellow BRICS countries to partner with South Africa to build the roads, ports for imports and exports, rail, energy and telecommunications networks that will enable Africa to industrialise and trade with other countries across the world.
The expanded BRICS now covers 43% of the world's population, 32% of the world’s land area, around 35% of global GDP and 20% of world exports and provides opportunities to develop mutually beneficial cooperation that contributes to the sustainable growth and development of South Africa.
The leaders of Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates will meet for the first time since new members were invited to join BRICS during the Johannesburg II BRICS Summit of 23 August 2023.
During the Summit, BRICS leaders will reflect on the status of mutually beneficial BRICS cooperation, regional and global economic and political developments as well as global governance reform.
BUSINESS REPORT