By Mathew Dadiya
The Vice President, Kashim Shettima will departs Abuja on Monday for Johannesburg, South Africa to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 15th BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government, indicating the willingness of the Africa’s most populous nation to join the group.
The Vice President will be joining other business and political leaders across the world at the Summit scheduled for the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg from August 22 to 24, 2023.
Though, Nigeria is not a member of the group of nations known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — represents 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of the world’s economy, as the South African President Cyril Ramophosa said about 22 countries have applied to join.
Now BRICS is considering expanding, in a push to be seen as a credible counterweight to Western-led forums like the G7 group of advanced nations.
Notable leaders expected to attend the event include South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa; President Xi Jinping of China; Brazil’s President, Luiz Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Seven-Three dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the chairperson of the African Union Commission and President of the New Development Bank have also been invited.
The summit is expected to deliberate on issues on trade and investment facilitation, sustainable development, innovation, and global governance reform.
It will also continue its outreach to Leaders from Africa and the global South; as it focuses on global geopolitics, trade and infrastructure development
BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of five major emerging and developing economies.
The BRICS group accounts for more than 42% of the world population, 30% of the world’s territory, 23% of the global economy and 18% of global trade. One of its founding values is shared commitment to restructure the global political, economic and financial architecture to be fair, balanced and representative resting on pillars of multilateralism and international law.
The Vice President is accompanied on the trip by some senior government officials and he is expected back in the country at the end of the week.
