Expanding BRICS on agenda on second day of summit in South Africa
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00:00 Now the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg is heading into its second day today, bringing together
00:04 the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
00:08 A big theme of this year's summit is expanding the block of emerging economies.
00:13 That's working to be a counterweight to the dominance of the West around the world.
00:17 Now that's a position that was reaffirmed during the opening remarks Tuesday with China
00:22 particularly throwing its weight behind expansion plans.
00:25 For more now from Johannesburg, let's bring in France 24's Erin Bates.
00:28 Erin, what's on the agenda for today?
00:33 Well the summit is underway proper with the five heads of state set to deliberate from
00:39 11 o'clock in what you could call a round table.
00:42 Of course Vladimir Putin of Russia will be participating virtually.
00:46 He was also privy to a post-dinner discussion yesterday which happened in a more exclusive
00:52 setting at one of the most elite neighborhoods in Johannesburg, South Africa.
00:57 Scores of nations convening here and of course the press along with them.
01:01 We understand that the president of Cuba arrived late last night and the president of Iran
01:06 set to touch down this morning.
01:08 Just some of the representatives from around the world with an interest in the BRICS discussion
01:13 set to take place underway.
01:15 Amongst the themes for that round table today with the heads of state is sustainable development
01:21 and multilateralism.
01:22 And as you say there are over 50 countries that are in Johannesburg for this summit,
01:28 not just the five BRICS countries.
01:29 Who else is there?
01:30 You mentioned Cuba and is this all part of the BRICS club's moves to grow?
01:39 It certainly is and in fact President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa giving a special
01:43 nod to fellow nations on the continent here for this summit.
01:47 We know that there is certainly an appetite amongst African nations to potentially join
01:51 with neighbors such as Malawi and Namibia keen to potentially jump onto the coattails
01:57 of South Africa as the only African nation in BRICS.
02:00 There's appetite as well elsewhere on the continent although there is much talk of the
02:04 global south.
02:05 That's something we heard during those leaders' addresses yesterday.
02:08 There's also appetite in the likes of South America in terms of Argentina, also Saudi
02:14 Arabia and even Indonesia.
02:16 The question will of course be what does membership of BRICS mean in tangible terms?
02:21 Is it more than just a kind of haphazard ramshackle club of countries seeking to tip the balance
02:27 of powers in the world order?
02:30 Also a question about whether being in with BRICS would mean being out with more established
02:34 global powers and entities like the G7 or G20 for example.
02:41 The important thing emphasized by the likes of La Silva of Brazil and also Ramaphosa amongst
02:48 others not only in their talks yesterday but in other discussions is that there is sovereignty
02:53 amongst all these nations.
02:54 They can pick and choose which alliances they want to form and on what bases and often the
03:00 informing factor there is developmental goals as well as of course trade.