BRICS and Africa in perspective

Abstract

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) platform has passed the ten-year mark. In the process, it has also managed to expand its presence beyond the five founding countries by reaching out to African, Euro-Asian, South-east Asian, South Asian and Latin American countries. This expansion began when South Africa hosted the BRICS summit in 2013, the first summit to take place on African soil. South Africa wisely invited a number of key African countries – representing various regions and types and sizes of economies – to an outreach meeting with BRICS leaders on the sidelines to discuss BRICS’ cooperation with Africa. This was used to firm up the process of making Africa’s interests a key part of the BRICS strategic agenda, which now includes Africa’s economic renewal, peace and security, social and human development. At both the 2013 and 2018 BRICS outreach to African countries, the leaders of African countries unanimously indicated that Africa was ready to become a key factor in the global economy, especially in relation to investment and trade that is meaningful for their peoples and the world.