BRICS summit to open in South Africa with focus on expansion

The BRICS alliance of five emerging economies meets in South Africa starting Tuesday at a summit that is expected to focus on the group’s expansion.

The alliance currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

It now aims to become “BRICS Plus” and take on numerous new members.

The member states still have to agree on admission criteria.

It is also still unclear when additional countries will be included.

The meeting runs through Thursday.

China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to attend the summit in person.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Putin himself is due to take part via video link.

Were he to attend in person, he would face arrest for alleged war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The aim of expanding the group is to “search for alternatives” to the current global balance of power, according to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

The BRICS countries say that together they account for 42 percent of the world’s population, 30 percent of the global land area, and 24 percent of global economic output.

More than 30 other countries have confirmed their participation in the three-day meeting.

In addition, 67 high-ranking politicians from Africa and the global South are invited, as are 20 representatives from the United Nations, the African Union, regional economic communities in Africa, and others.