top of the agenda will be a possible expansion of the bloc. 0ver a0 countries, including saudi arabia, uae, argentina and iran want to join the group. brics is seen by some as a logical alternative to established western institutions. however, making sure all the existing members, as well the new applicants, have enough common ground to work together may be harder to negotiate. lets go live tojohannesburg now and talk to someone attending this summit. i am joined now by gustavo de carvalho from the south african institute of international affairs. good to have you in the programme. let s talk about xi jinping. we saw he has arrived for the summit. is he really the most important player at this event given how heavily china invests in south africa,
of brazil, russia, india, china and south africa. they are meeting injohannesburg for their summit of major emerging economies and the heads of state and government have a lot to discuss when it comes to trade and economic ties. but one key participant won t be present. russian president vladimir putin will onlyjoin via a video link. top of the agenda will be a possible expansion of the bloc. 0ver a0 countries, including saudi arabia, uae, argentina and iran want tojoin the group. brics is seen by some as a logical alternative to established western institutions. however, making sure all the existing members, as well the new applicants, have enough common ground to work together may be harder to negotiate. joining me now is steven gruzd, head of african governance and diplomacy programme at the south african institute of international affairs. there is a lot for them to talk
An expansion of the BRICS bloc under consideration at a summit this week has attracted a motley crew of potential candidates - from Iran to Argentina - with one thing in common: a desire to level a global playing field many consider rigged against them.
Foreign ministers from the Brics countries are meeting in South Africa from Thursday as the five-nation bloc seeks to forge itself into a counterweight to Western geopolitical dominance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.