More than 40 nations interested in joining BRICS
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00:00 that has been taking place on all three tracks.
00:12 But lastly, under China's chairship, at the Foreign Minister's meeting in May last
00:16 year, the Foreign Ministers raised the issue of expansion and they had an initial discussion.
00:23 And at the summit in June last year, the virtual summit under China's chairship, paragraph
00:28 73 of the Beijing Declaration, specifically speaks to expansion where it states we should
00:34 start discussions around BRICS expansion and we should look at developing guiding principles,
00:39 standard criteria and procedure for expansion through the Sherpa track.
00:45 As is the traditional format, you have a closed session.
00:49 On President Putin, as you know, the announcement was made by our President that he will not
00:54 attend the summit physically, but he will attend the summit virtually.
00:58 He will be involved in all of the sessions where the leaders are partaking in the traditional
01:05 summit of BRICS leaders on the 23rd.
01:09 On the 22nd of August, when BRICS leaders address the business forum, the closing plenary
01:16 of the BRICS business forum, President Putin will also deliver his remarks virtually.
01:21 He will participate on the 23rd in all aspects of the summit virtually.
01:26 And on the 24th in the BRICS+ BRICS Outreach Summit, he will also participate in that.
01:33 So although Minister Lavrov will be physically present, President Putin will be involved
01:38 in all deliberations of the summit.
01:41 We'll also have a report from the President of the agreement that we have reached as BRICS
01:47 countries in terms of this challenge that we had to address as South Africa being a
01:54 party to the Rome Statue and the presence of President Putin in South Africa and the
01:59 arrest warrant.
02:00 Our President, I think, has done extremely well.
02:04 He's engaged all parties, not just President Putin.
02:08 This decision wasn't taken just between President Ramaphosa and President Putin.
02:12 We will sign the customs agreement between ourselves that has been negotiated for quite
02:17 some time.
02:18 President Putin not being physically present in the summit impacts all the other leaders
02:22 as well.
02:24 And I think it shows the maturity and the strength of the partnership that collectively
02:29 we could come to a decision that yes, President Putin understands the dilemma that South Africa
02:34 faces, but he didn't want to jeopardize the summit.
02:38 He didn't want to create problems for South Africa.
02:40 And this is the strength of BRICS cooperation.