BRICS Summit Expected to Bolster Trade in South Africa

Lavina Daryanani
Source: China Daily – Global Edition

The BRICS Summit 2023 is slated for the third quarter and will be taking place in South Africa. The theme for this time’s summit revolves around BRICS’ and South Africa’s partnership for accelerated growth, sustainable development, and inclusive multilateralism. A few weeks back, Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa, revealed in the Assembly,

One of the priorities during our chairship is to build a partnership between BRICS and Africa to unlock mutually beneficial opportunities for increased trade, investment, and infrastructure development.

Ayanda Ntsaluba, a spokesperson from the South African Chapter of the BRICS Business Council shared other details recently. In an interview, he re-asserted that the countries are expected to discuss measures to bolster trade among themselves. Alongside, they also intend to foster post-pandemic economic recovery.

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South Africa is keen to increase trade with Russia, Brazil

Ntsaluba reportedly said that South Africa is engaging with the business councils of the other BRICS countries about these ideas. In fact, leaders of regional economic communities have also been encouraged to meet with BRICS leaders to discuss business plans.

The bilateral trade between South Africa and China, and South Africa and India is showing impressive growth, Ntsaluba said. Furthermore, he added that South Africa is keen to further increase trade with Russia and Brazil. He said,

“We will be exploring ways to find synergies between BRICS and the African Continental Free Trade Area, as well as exploring ways to expand the exchange of skills between countries.”

Ntsaluba also added that the number of tourists from BRICS countries in South Africa is expected to rise in the near future. In fact, South Africa is also ready to refine its cooperation with neighboring states. Doing so will help travelers visit other countries in the region as part of special tours. Here, it is worth noting that tourism is an important contributor to the South African economy. In fact, since this is arguably labor-intensive, it is time and again viewed as a development tool.

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