International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu will next month host the second formal meeting of the BRICS Foreign Affairs Ministers.
The meeting will be held on 4 June in Pretoria in preparation for the 10th BRICS Summit taking place in July.
“It is expected that the ministers will discuss practical cooperation amongst the BRICS States, the current international political situation, as well as the role of BRICS in the implementation of the UN’s Agenda 2030,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said on Wednesday.
South Africa is scheduled to host the 10th BRICS Summit from 25 – 27 July at the Sandton Convention Centre, which will see South Africa building on the BRICS programme of development and prosperity for partner countries.
South Africa has proposed new areas of BRICS cooperation, which include a working group on peacekeeping, the establishment of a vaccine research centre, the establishment of the BRICS gender and women forum, the BRICS strategic partnership towards the advancement of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the establishment of the BRICS Tourism Track of Cooperation.
The 2018 Summit will be an important milestone for BRICS cooperation, as it represents a decade of BRICS cooperation at the highest diplomatic level. The summit will culminate in the adoption of the Johannesburg Declaration, which will include BRICS’ commitments for the year ahead.
Already, there has been substantive progress achieved since South Africa joined BRICS in 2011, as seen in the launch of the Africa Regional Centre of the New Development Bank (NDB) in South Africa.
The formation has strengthened its cooperative mechanism for institutional development, most notably witnessed in the creation of the NDB and the recently launched Africa Regional Centre in Johannesburg.
The five BRICS countries account for 26% of the world's landmass and are home to 43% of the world's population. The bloc is composed of emerging markets and the developing world. - SAnews.gov.za
