JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
The BRICS summit opened in South Africa on Tuesday as the loosely-defined club of large emerging economies seeks to assert its voice as a counterweight to the Western-led international order.
The BRICS nations of Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa represent a quarter of the global
economy, and interest in joining the group surged ahead of its three-day summit
in Johannesburg.
Security has been bolstered
across the city where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is hosting
China's President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil's
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and some 50 other leaders.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin, who is the target of an international arrest warrant over alleged war
crimes in Ukraine, did not attend in person and addressed the summit via
pre-recorded video.
Russia will be represented in Johannesburg by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Putin said the BRICS grouping
of countries was on course to meet the aspirations of most of the world's
population, according to recorded remarks at the summit.
"We cooperate on the
principles of equality, partnership support, respect for each other’s interests,
and this is the essence of the future-oriented strategic course of our
association, a course that meets the aspirations of the main part of the world
community, the so-called global majority," Putin said.
Representing 40% of the
world's population, and democratic and authoritarian states at varying levels
of economic growth, the BRICS nations share a common desire for a global order
they see as better reflecting their interests and rising clout.
BRICS is also championing its
own development bank as an alternative to the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund, and proposals to reduce the use of the U.S. dollar in global
trade.
"We are only saying that
we exist, we are organizing ourselves, and we want to sit at the negotiating table
on an equal footing with the European Union, the United States or any other
country," Lula said in a social media post on Tuesday.
The theme of its 15th summit
is "BRICS and Africa" and comes as the continent emerges as a renewed
diplomatic battleground with the United States, Russia and China jostling for
influence.
The summit has underscored
divisions over the war in Ukraine and the support Russia enjoys from its other
BRICS partners at a time of global isolation.
South Africa, China and India
have not condemned Russia's invasion while Brazil has refused to join Western
nations in sending arms to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow.
Ahead of the summit, Ramaphosa
said his country would "not be drawn into a contest between global
powers."
In a park near the summit
venue, two dozen protesters held up blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and
placards reading "Go home Lavrov."
The bloc began as four nations
in 2009 but expanded the following year with the addition of South Africa.
Officials say more than 40
countries have shown interest in joining from across the "Global
South," a broad term referring to nations outside the West.
Like the BRICS themselves, these countries run the gamut and include traditionally non-aligned nations like Indonesia and others that are openly hostile to the United States and its allies, like Iran.
"It goes to show that the
BRICS family is growing in its importance, in its stature and also in its
influence in the world," said Ramaphosa.
South Africa will present
BRICS leaders with a proposal to expand its membership.
But the issue divides China
and its regional rival India, which is wary of Beijing shaping the forum to
suit its own geo-politial agenda as it competes for global influence against
the United States.
The leaders met on Tuesday on
the topic but divisions re-emerged ahead of the critical debate over a
potential expansion of the group intended to boost its global clout.
Xi skipped the event, despite
the presence there of counterparts Ramaphosa, Lula and Modi.
His remarks were delivered by
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, and it was not immediately clear why Xi,
who had a meeting with host Ramaphosa earlier in the day, did not attend.
Brazil's Lula said he
supported the entry of "several countries" including Argentina.
"It is very important for
Argentina to be in BRICS," Lula said in a live broadcast on social media.
Argentina, whose largest trade
partner is Brazil, has previously said it intended to join the BRICS bloc.
Analysts say when considering
new members, South Africa, India and Brazil must balance a desire for warm ties
with China and Russia against the risk of estranging a major trading partner in
the United States.
Information for this report
came from AFP and Reuters.
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