By Paul Jouvenet, jurist and essayist. Eurasia Business News, August 22, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke via video link to the participants of the BRICS XV summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in Johannesburg.

“The share of the countries of the association, in which more than 3 billion people live, has reached almost 26% in world GDP, and in terms of purchasing power parity, the five bypasses the Group of Seven: the forecast for 2023 is 31.5 against 30%,” said the Russian president.

In his opinion, “the objective, irreversible process of de-dollarization of our economic ties is gaining momentum”, as “the share of the US currency in settlements between the BRICS countries is decreasing and in 2022 amounted to 28.7%. The President noted the growing volume of exports of agricultural products from Russia: last year, 11.5 million tons of such cargo were delivered to Africa, and in the first six months of 2023 – almost 10 million tons.”

Vladimir Putin said that these figures could be achieved in spite of the Western sanctions imposed on Russia, which he acussed of seriously impeding the export of Russian food products to Africa, complicating transport logistics, insurance and bank payments.

The Russian President his words about his readiness to replace grain from Ukraine, both on a commercial basis and in the form of “free assistance to states in need.”

“Moreover, we are again expecting an excellent harvest this year. As a first step, we decided to send 25-50 thousand tons of grain to six African countries free of charge,” he said. Putin added that Russia will also provide free delivery of goods, relevant negotiations with partners are nearing completion.

The BRICS summit will last until August 24. Four of the bloc’s five leaders will attend the event in person, while Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend via video link.

Vladimir Putin decided not to visit South Africa in person because the arrest warrant issued in his name by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The judges incriminate him and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova with “illegal deportation of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine” to Russia from February 24, 2022. Moscow called the ICC’s decision legally null and void because it does not recognize its jurisdiction. The Investigative Committee opened a case against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.

South Africa has ratified the founding charter of the ICC, the Rome Statute. The South African authorities tried to settle the situation. “It’s a big dilemma for us. Of course, we can’t arrest him. It’s as if you invited your friend to your home and then arrested him,” said Vice President Paul Machatile, noting that the best solution for South Africa would be if Vladimir Putin did not come in person. “However, the Russians are dissatisfied. They want him to come,” Mashatile added.

“I am in contact with all my colleagues, I do not think that my stay at the BRICS summit is more important than my stay now in Russia,” said the president Vladimir Putin.

Instead of Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday landed in the South African city of Johannesburg to take part in the 15th BRICS Summit.

Many candidates for accession

BRICS leaders and BRICS partners gather for the XV summit starting August 22 in the city of Johannesburg. The meetings of representatives of the largest association of emerging countries will last three days, until August 24. Representatives of 34 countries of the South, including Iran, Argentina, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Belarus, have already confirmed their participation in the summit.

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Iran, Argentina and Algeria have applied to join the bloc in 2022, and over the past year, BRICS membership applications have been announced by about 20 other countries – the most important regional players on all continents. Among the candidate countries are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), namely Belarus and Kazakhstan, states close to Russia and China. Bolivia and Venezuela are also ready to join the BRICS. However, no one knows yet which countries will join the BRICS in 2023 or 2024.

The Summit Programme

The slogan of the XV Summit is “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutual Acceleration of Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism“. Officially, the agenda of the meetings has not yet been presented, but it has already been indicated that the central themes of the summit will be the criteria for joining the BRICS, as well as the strengthening of member states’ local currencies against the dollar and the development of a common payment system alternative to the SWIFT system.

On April 13, during his first state visit to China since taking office in January, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposed choosing an alternative currency to the dollar for trade among BRICS countries.

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President Lula da Silva said that other countries could be more active in using their own currencies in trade, without using the dollar.

The BRICS are striving to promote cooperation and coordination on economic and financial issues and since 2022 monetary issues.

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The BRICS could be the G7 of emerging countries and the South Global and change the world order by promoting multipolarity and multilateralism. The most important is not the expansion of the BRICS, but the growing influence of the group’s decisions on the global economy and the strengthening of its voice in the international financial arena, thanks in particular to the New Development Bank established in 2015, facing the IMF and the World Bank. The BRICS bank has already financed 98 infrastructure development projects worth a total of $33 billion since 2015. The attractiveness of the BRICS as a “balancing force in world affairs” is now at an unprecedented level.

By 2030, the BRICS could together account for 50% of global GDP.

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© Copyright 2023 – Paul Jouvenet, jurist and essayist.