Durban - South Africa will use its chairing of the upcoming BRICS summit as an opportunity to champion the continent and the larger global community’s interests.
Professor Anil Sooklal, Ambassador-at-Large for Asia and BRICS and South Africa’s BRICS Sherpa, speaking at a BRICS dialogue event at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College Theatre yesterday, said the bloc was leading the rise of developing countries across all continents.
South Africa is set to host the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 15th BRICS Summit from August 22 to 24.
“BRICS has impacted the world geopolitically and geo-economically. We do not have to borrow any more in dollars. We can borrow in rand and pay in rand.
“Brazilian President Lula da Silva, he went on a state visit to China in April and said ‘who decided we must all only trade in the dollar? Who made this decision in this day and age?’”
Sooklal said that in the seventies the US and Europe accounted for more than 50% of global manufacturing, but the US share of global manufacturing was now 10%.
“In order to facilitate trade in Africa and expedite inter-African trade and get from the current 16% to the 35% under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, the Afreximbank has created the Pan African Payment and Settlements system.
“We no longer have to be trading with each other on the African continent in dollars,” he said.
Sooklal described this as a major game changer.
Professor Sarah Mosoetswa, the interim chairperson of the BRICS Think Tank, said it was refreshing to see so many young people at the event who were interested in studying the bloc, as “there are those who would wish it away”.
Mosoetswa said the Think tank was also looking at critical and emerging technology, including artificial intelligence and language processing advancements, and was creating its own archival data sets to evaluate if progress had been made in achieving BRICS goals, and whether there was progress among the countries in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.