BRICS foreign ministers meet in South Africa to discuss global, regional issues

By Hassan Isilow

CAPETOWN, South Africa (AA) - BRICS foreign ministers on Thursday met in South Africa’s city of Cape Town to start a two-day meeting that will discuss global and regional issues.

“Our discussions today will focus on opportunities to strengthening and transforming global governance systems. To also explore synergies between BRICS and the G-20 in a multi-polar world,” South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said at the opening of the meeting.

BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies that include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Pandor said their meeting will also look forward to solutions for sustainable and inclusive global economic recovery and hope to foster an environment of peace and development.

“For two decades, we have heard calls for reform of multilateral institutions only to be continuously disappointed,” India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in his opening remarks.

Jaishankar said the BRICS meeting comes at a critical time when the international situation is challenging. And the meeting must send out a strong message to the world that old ways cannot address new situations and BRICS are a “symbol of change.”

He said the global environment today demands that BRICS nations approach key contemporary issues seriously, constructively and collectively.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Brazil’s Mauro Vieira and China’s Vice Prime Minister Ma Zhaoxu were among the guest speakers.

Several other leaders who are not yet members of the BRICS formation have also joined the meeting including Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

South Africa will chair this year’s BRICS summit on Aug. 22-24 in Johannesburg under the theme “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development, and inclusive multilateralism”.

Pandor said the vision of BRICS is for partnership to provide global leadership in a world fractured by competition, geopolitical tension, inequality and deteriorating global security.