President Cyril Ramaphosa has sought to drum up support for his government of national unity from Brics countries, telling Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that the executive changes were meant to unite and stabilise the country.
Ramaphosa and Putin held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Brics summit of emerging powers in Kazan, Russia. At the meeting, the president described Russia as a “valuable ally and friend” that had supported SA since apartheid.
“We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against apartheid, right through to now,” Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.
“We formed a government of national unity after our elections in May ... we will have time to talk about that and I will inform you on how that process is evolving ... we are pleased that with your [Putin’s] support in every respect we have been able to reach this point in the history of our country.”
Ramaphosa said he also planned to discuss with his Russian counterpart “major geopolitical issues”, as well as bilateral issues.
Putin called for greater diversification of trade and investment between SA and Russia in key sectors such as energy, agriculture and science innovation.
“Russia and SA are largely co-ordinating their efforts in the international arena to create and shape a fair multipolar world order,” Putin said.
Russia took over the chairing of Brics from SA in January. A total 32 countries as well as top officials of regional organisations and UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres will attend the three-day summit, which started on Tuesday.
The meeting is the first since Brics agreed to extend membership to six additional nations at the 2023 summit in Johannesburg. The new Brics members — Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia — are also due to hold bilateral talks with Putin on the sidelines of the summit as Russia seeks to reinforce its relations with countries in the global south as a counter to the West.
Ramaphosa would hold several bilateral meetings with leaders attending the summit to strengthen political and economic relations in line with SA’s national interests and foreign policy priorities, presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.
“A founding value of Brics is the shared vision of the urgent need to restructure global political, economic and financial governance to be more fair, just and representative,” Magwenya said.
“The expanded Brics now covers 43% of the world’s population, 32% of the world’s land area, about 35% of global GDP and 20% of world exports and provides opportunities to develop mutually beneficial co-operation that contributes to the sustainable growth and development of SA,” he said.
SA’s delegation to Kazan includes international relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola; defence & military veterans minister Angie Motshekga; minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni; and trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau.
The summit is scheduled to solidify previous agreements with a sharp focus on pivotal issues such as trading in local currencies and the significance of additional member states.
“They will consider reports requested during the Johannesburg Brics summit, including a report by Brics foreign ministers on the further development of the Brics partner country model and prospective candidates and a report by Brics finance ministers on the consideration of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms. The summit will hear reports from the New Development Bank, Brics Interbank Co-operation Mechanism, Brics Business Council and Brics Women’s Business Alliance,” the presidency said.
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