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#Opinion

Africa's Strategic Realignment: A New Chapter with Russia

By Dr Iqbal Surve, Past Chair of the BRICS Business Council & Co-Chair of the BRICS Media Forum and BRNN & Chloé Maluleke, Associate at The BRICS+ Consulting Group: Russian & Iranian Specialist

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🔹As the world witnesses the shifting tides of geopolitical influence, #Africa stands at a crucial juncture.

🔹 The upcoming #BRICS Summit in Kazan presents the continent with an opportunity to redefine its role on the global stage.

🔹 For decades, Africa has been entangled in systems designed to serve foreign interests—systems that have constrained its potential for economic independence and sovereignty.

🌐 Today, as Africa pivots toward stronger ties with Russia and the BRICS alliance, the continent begins to embrace a future where its voice can finally resonate on equal terms with global powers.

The article was first published on https://www.iol.co.za

#BRICS2024 #Kazan2024 #Russia #Africa
36 countries will be represented at the XVI #BRICS summit, with 22 at the highest level, along with leaders from six international organizations.

The new #BRICS constitutes over 30% of the Earth's landmass, has 45% of the world's population (3.6 billion people), provides for over 40% of total oil production, and about a quarter of world commodity exports.

📈 BRICS total #GDP in terms of purchasing power parity has long surpassed that of the #G7: according to IMF estimates, in 2023 it equaled 32.1% and 27.6% respectively.

🌐 As of today, 3 dozen nations have expressed their interest in joining the work of BRICS in one form or another, and this number continues to grow.

#BRICS2024
Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🎙 Excerpt from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" on BRICS (October 21, 2024)

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Question: A significant number of countries, approximately 30 or perhaps more, have voiced their intention to join this group. Notably, Türkiye, a NATO member, which was rather surprising to me. Conversely, it has been reported that Kazakhstan, through the statement of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's Press Secretary, has expressed no intention of joining BRICS in the foreseeable future. Why is there such activity and interest in this group of nations? Why is everyone invited to join it? What are the future prospects for BRICS? Is it not in competition with other international entities?

💬 Sergey Lavrov: #BRICS epitomises the shifts that have long been underway in the global economy. New centres of economic growth are emerging, and alongside them comes financial influence, which in turn brings political influence.

<...>

BRICS has prioritised the needs of its nations, and interest in the grouping continues to grow. It is a consortium where no single nation leads or is led, devoid of the bureaucratic machinery akin to that observed in Brussels, where EU officials impose decisions that contravene the will and interests of several member states <...>

❗️ Rather than addressing the challenges faced by EU members, the Brussels bureaucracy is preoccupied with the transfer of arms to Ukraine, raising funds for this purpose, and undertaking other actions detrimental to the economy, social sphere, and industry of EU member states.

☝️ BRICS, conversely, does not compel any nation to make sacrifices.

Within BRICS, there is no imposition of such artificial objectives, nor is there an intention to contain any nation.

BRICS is committed to enhancing the combined potential of its nations and devising collaborative strategies for harnessing these potentials for mutual benefit. Consequently, rather than relying on artificial constructs, BRICS formulates plans and projects based on real-world needs. <...>

This is precisely what renders BRICS appealing to the Global Majority nations.

About 30 countries seek to establish ties with the group today. Some of them have applied to join as full participants, and others to participate in the BRICS Plus/Outreach format. We are ready to invite them, and have invited them before to various events as guests of the chair.

Following the decision of last year’s summit, we are working at the level of experts and ministers to prepare a proposal on a new BRICS partner country category. Partner countries will enjoy broad rights and privileges, almost equal to the permanent members of BRICS, with just a few exceptions.

One of the countries that announced their interest in becoming a participant in BRICS – and did it publicly – was Türkiye. The country is indeed a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. <...> For decades, Türkiye has not been allowed to join the European Union, with respective talks hindered in every possible way. It is unlikely that the EU will ever change its negative stance, which is another argument in favour of Türkiye’s increasing rapprochement with BRICS.

<...>

🤝 What makes BRICS and other Global Majority or Global East associations that do not include Western countries stand out, is that they are not created for the purpose of struggling or fighting with anyone. They are established to collectively benefit from their competitive advantages such as geographical location, shared history, cultural and humanitarian proximity, and coherence of economic systems, as is the case of the former Soviet republics. This is an objectively occurring process.

The West has been proving time and again that it is not just willing, but never hesitates to use illegal sanctions against any country it sees as a threat to its economic domination, violating the global market economy principles it supposedly champions. All countries see this.

#BRICS2024
#Opinion

The Significance of Country X Joining BRICS

✍️ Article by Dr Iqbal Survè, Past Chairman of the BRICS Business Council and Co-Chairman of the BRICS Media Forum and the BRNN & Banthati Sekwala, Associate, BRICS+ Consultant Group

🌐 As the world shifts towards a multipolar reality, BRICS has emerged as a crucial platform for nations seeking to shape their own futures and redefine the global order.

Composed of some of the most powerful and dynamic emerging economies, BRICS stands as a beacon of inclusivity, cooperation, and fairness in an increasingly fractured world. The addition of new members to this prestigious group is not merely a formality - it represents a transformative moment in the evolution of global governance.

🔗 Read in full

#brics #brics2024 #bricssummit
“Chak-chak diplomacy"
What is the dish foreign leaders were treated to as they arrived in Kazan?

👉 Served at festive occasions, including weddings, seasonal festivals, and other celebrations, chak-chak has earned its place in the hearts of millions of Russians as the food most associated with the Tatar people.

🔗 Read more

📸 Pictures credit: Ilya Pitalev, Alexey Filippov, Ekaterina Chesnokova, Kirill Zykov / Photohost agency http://brics-russia2024.ru

#brics #brics2024 #bricssummit
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The third and final day of the XVI BRICS Summit, which includes plenary sessions in the outreach/BRICS Plus format, kicked off in Kazan

💬 President #Putin: “This extended format, which has built up a good track record, provides an opportunity for a direct and open dialogue between members of the group and our sincere friends.”

☝️The meeting in Kazan will be attended by delegates from nearly 40 countries, including leaders of a number of CIS, Asian, African, Middle East, and Latin American countries, as well as heads of international organizations.

Picture credit: Sergey Bobylev / Photohost agency http://brics-russia2024.ru

#brics2024 #brics #bricssummit
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✍️ #Opinion of US Prof. John Mearsheimer on the XVI #BRICS Summit in an interview with the ‘Judging Freedom’ channel:

Not only did the sanctions not work against Putin, our attempt to isolate him internationally, and turn him into a pariah has categorically failed.

Is there a better example of this failure than the
BRICS conference? I mean there’re just all sorts of countries there, including India which is a democracy that the United States cares greatly about, that is breaking bread with the Russians. So I think what's going on is more evidence that Putin is in the driver's seat, he beats sanctions, he's winning on the battlefield, he's not a pariah, and BRICS is an impressive institution that shows lots of evidence that it's going to grow more impressive with the passage of time. This is bad news for the United States and good news for Putin.

#TheyAboutUs
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the heads of diplomatic missions of the #BRICS countries accredited in Moscow.

🤝 They discussed ways to further strengthen strategic partnerships within BRICS in the light of the outcomes of the XVI BRICS Summit held in Kazan on October 22-24 and chaired by Russia.

The parties had a thorough exchange of views on the situation in and around Ukraine. The Russian side laid out the fundamental approaches to the Ukrainian crisis resolution based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative of June 14, highlighting the cornerstones of Moscow’s stance on the issue.

❗️Those include withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from all Russian regions, recognition of those regions as Russian territory, termination of Kiev’s attempts to apply for NATO membership, the lifting of Western sanctions against Russia, and all-out guarantees of the rights of the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine.

#brics #lavrov #russia #ukraine #nato
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📰 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with the Türkish newspaper Hürriyet, November 1, 2024

#BRICS

We welcome Türkiye’s interest in strengthening ties with BRICS. This reflects the appeal of the group that is based on respect for the UN Charter, openness, pragmatism, and non-directedness against third parties.

We support the expansion of BRICS relations with countries of the Global Majority, particularly those committed to upholding multilateral approaches, pursuing a sovereign foreign policy, and refraining from participating in unilateral sanctions.

During the Summit in Kazan, a decision was made to strengthen the current composition of BRICS by including partner countries in the group. I am confident that Türkiye can make a meaningful contribution to the ongoing development of BRICS. The parameters for Türkiye’s participation in the group will be determined by consensus, respecting the sovereign choices of all BRICS countries and Türkiye itself.

#MiddleEast

The failure to settle the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict has sparked a new wave of violence, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The number of casualties in Lebanon reaches thousands. More and more countries are becoming embroiled in this escalating confrontation.

Russia has condemned Israel for killing political leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as high-ranking Iranian military officials. We asked the UN Security Council to give its assessment of these deeds, but this initiative was blocked by opposition from Western members of the Council.

We urge all parties to refrain from actions that could further escalate violence and lead to a situation beyond control. There will be no winners in this conflict.

The way to normalise the situation lies in halting the bloodshed and creating conditions for a political resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on universal international legal principles. This includes the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Only this solution can guarantee lasting peace in the Middle East.

#Ukraine

Russia is open to achieving a political settlement, but this should not merely lead to a temporary ceasefire; it must lead to a resolution of the conflict by eliminating its root causes. These include NATO’s eastward expansion, the creation of threats to Russia’s essential security interests, and the Kiev regime’s infringement on the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine.

At the moment, our opponents do not appear to want peace. Ukraine’s reaction to President Vladimir Putin’s peace initiative proposed in June was an invasion of the Kursk Region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with airstrikes on targets in other border areas. Washington and its allies continue to provide extensive support to Kiev, discuss the possibility of using Western long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory. Vladimir Zelensky has not revoked his order prohibiting negotiations with Moscow. Given these circumstances, it seems unlikely that any country, including Türkiye, will succeed in mediation efforts.

#RussiaUS

Whoever wins the election, we see no real prospects of the United States changing its Russophobic course. For our part, we will be ready for dialogue if and when the Americans demonstrate serious intentions to negotiate honestly, based on respect for each other’s interests and the principle of reciprocity.
🇷🇺🌍 Preparations for the First Ministerial Conference of the #Russia-#Africa Partnership Forum are in the final stages, with African representatives actively involved.

This event will continue the close dialogue established earlier at the #BRICS Summit in Kazan.

The business programme will include around 20 panel sessions and thematic events focusing on perspectives for Russia–Africa cooperation in the areas of security, economics, and humanitarian engagement.

The First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum will build on the outcomes of the Second Russia-Africa Summit, bringing together foreign ministers from Russia, African nations, the African Union Commission, and executive bodies of regional integration organizations.

🌐 Representatives from financial institutions, Russian and African businesses, civil society, academia, and the media have also been invited to participate in the Conference’s business programme.

The event will be organized by the Roscongress Foundation.

#RussiaAfrica
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🇷🇺🇿🇦Joint initiatives and interstate projects of entrepreneurs from the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa will receive media support in the BRICS+ countries. The Russia-South Africa Business Council and the TV BRICS International Media Network have signed a trilateral agreement on strategic cooperation.

🤝The agreements were cemented by Elias Monage, co-chairman of the South African part of the South Africa-Russia Business Council, Taras Shevchenko, executive director of the Russian part of the Russia-South Africa Business Council, and Ksenia Komissarova, Editor-in-Chief of the TV BRICS International Media Network.

The Russia-South Africa Business Council was established in 2006. Its activities are aimed at promoting the strengthening and expansion of trade and economic, scientific, technical and other business relations and contacts between Russian and South African enterprises and companies.

Source: TV BRICS
Picture credit: Business Russia


#BRICS #BRICS2024
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🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Marina Kim for the New World project (Moscow, November 14, 2024)

Key talking points:

#InternationalAffairs

• Our main task now is to achieve all the goals formulated by President Vladimir Putin. You are aware of the West’s expectations. They are speculating about stopping the hostilities at a certain line and coordinating a truce, so that 10 years from now they will decide who Crimea and Donbass belong to. This is coffee cup reading. I won’t engage in it. We have our tasks, and we will fulfil them.

• Our job is to assert and promote Russia’s interests in keeping with its Constitution as well as the objectives defined by President Vladimir Putin. This goes beyond Ukraine and applies to Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept in general.

#USA

• Washington can’t allow Russia to prove that it is a strong player and undermine the West’s reputation. They don’t care about Ukraine. They only care about their reputation. They decided that Ukraine should have a government they like and didn’t expect anyone to protest. Russia? It’s a big country but it must be brought down a peg. That is what this is about rather than the future of the Ukrainian people. They don’t care about people.

• Sanctions have been imposed on over half of the world’s countries, even if they are not as drastic as those that have been adopted against Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran and Venezuela. The real reason behind the West’s current rage is that China is rapidly and confidently surging ahead of the United States.

• We can see through what the Americans want. Sitting somewhere overseas, they believe that they are beyond the reach, while leaving it to Europe to overcome the challenges they face in terms of encouraging and arming Ukraine to fight Russia, as well as footing the bill for the Middle East tragedy.

#Eurasia4You

• God gave us one continent, and we share it. This continent possesses immense and, in fact, the biggest natural resources, while several millennia-old civilisations inhabit it. Failing to benefit from these competitive advantages would be a mistake. This is what the idea of building a Greater Eurasian Partnership is all about, and the EAEU, SCO and ASEAN have already taken the first steps in this direction. We are establishing ties and promoting dialogue. If we succeed in fulfilling the plans we have, the Greater Eurasian Partnership will offer a solid foundation and serve as an economic and transport backbone for what President Vladimir Putin called a new Eurasian security architecture.

• There is a clear understanding that the Eurasian security architecture, just like the Greater Eurasian Partnership, must be open to all countries and continents, including Eurasia’s western part, even if so far the latter has been trying, as if by inertia, to ensure its interests within a Euro-Atlantic security concept instead of opting for the Eurasian framework, which would be natural and reasonable, considering the geography factor. This is their way of saying that they do not intend to do anything without the United States.

#BRICS

🌐 BRICS is about the new world order that is based on the main principle of the UN Charter – the sovereign equality of states.

BRICS has no intention of dividing the world. It wants to bring together countries that desire closer relations so that they can live on the land they got from God and their ancestors just as they used to, as great civilisations.

#Africa

🌍 Decolonisation has taken place, in a broad sense. But being able to actually manage one’s freedom and resources is a different story. This is where neo-colonialism comes to the fore.

• The First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Sochi, and the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg in 2023 clearly put into perspective the trends that could be called Africa’s second awakening.
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🇿🇦 Dr Maurine Musie to represent South Africa at #BRICS Young Scientist Forum

By Weekend Argus

In a significant milestone for South African science, Dr Maurine Musie, a senior nursing lecturer at the University of Pretoria (UP), has been selected to represent South Africa at the #BRICS Young Scientist Forum in Russia from 18 to 22 November 2024.

Renowned for her expertise as a midwife specialist and emerging researcher within UP’s Department of Nursing Sciences, Dr Musie's credentials are impressive — she is the youngest individual to hold a PhD in the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences.

✍️ Read in full

Source: https://www.iol.co.za/

#BRICS #BRICS2024