South Africa: China’s President Mr. Xi Jinping will attend the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa as he makes a state visit to the country next week.
“At the invitation of President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, President Mr. Xi Jinping will attend the 15th BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and pay a state visit to South Africa from August 21 to 24,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ms. Hua Chunying said in a statement.
The visit marks the Chinese President’s second international trip of 2023, after he travelled to Russia in March. Mr. Xi previously visited South Africa in 2018 as he sought to enhance his country’s diplomatic and economic ties in Africa.
The five BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will meet in Johannesburg to discuss how to turn the group of nations accounting for a quarter of the global economy into a geopolitical force that can challenge the developed world’s dominance.
According to reports, Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin, who faces an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will take part via video rather than attend in person.
A total of 69 countries have been invited to the summit in South Africa, including all African states, and expansion is expected to be high on the agenda. Countries including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Ethiopia have shown interest in joining the group either formally or informally. China has stated that it “welcomes more like-minded partners to join the ‘BRICS family’ at an early date.”
BRICS countries account for more than 40 percent of the world’s population and about 26 percent of the global economy.
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