Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2018.
Andy Wong / AFP via Getty Images
There is increased demand to join BRICS in the emerging world order, partly as a countervailing power to “the west”.
A window into a new way of doing global economic business.
Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)
Talk of a joint BRICS currency feeds into ‘decline of the dollar’ rhetoric. But it is the economic bloc’s focus on innovation that will reshape the international system.
Lula and Modi walking a new diplomatic path.
Takashi Aoyama/AFP via Getty Images
Brazil and India are among the countries pointedly not taking sides over the war in Ukraine. But this is not the nonaligned movement of yesteryear.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the 14th BRICS Summit via video link in Beijing. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the summit.
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Geopolitics is forcing BRICS countries to balance respect for international law, self-determination, sovereignty and peaceful resolution of disputes with their friendly relations with Russia.
President Vladimir Putin, left, and President Cyril Ramaphosa in Sochi, Russia, in 2019.
Sergei Chirikov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.
It’s clear that South Africa is aligned with the Russian Federation.
Is Lula pursuing divisiveness or diplomatic pragmatism on the world stage?
AP Photo/Louise Delmotte
Lula’s courting of – or by – China and Western powers has confounded critics. But in reality, it is a continuation of the foreign policy he pursued during his earlier term in power.
Brazilian president Lula meets China’s president Xi on an official visit to Beijing in 2023.
AP/Alamy
Alliances around the Ukraine war have highlighted fragmenting support for the west.
China’s President Xi Jinping, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin cement bonds at the Kremlin in March.
Vladimir Astapkovich/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images.
The US’s negative attitude towards BRICS reflects its own weakening global power, especially its inability to isolate Russia in Europe and to contain China’s growing influence.
EPA-EFE/Ng Han Guan
France is one of a growing number of countries urging a negotiated settlement to the war mediated by China.
Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Vladimir Putin at the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, in 2019.
Photos: GCIS
The government must not trample on its own laws and court decisions. Compliance with the constitution must be the priority.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.
South Africa’s foreign policy under Ramaphosa emphasises economic diplomacy and ‘progressive internationalism’, which promotes global equity and ending the dominance of the global north.
South African supporters at the 2010 men’s football World Cup.
Phil Cole/Getty Images
Studies show South Africa did a lot right when it hosted the football World Cup. Qatar can do the same if it learns from South Africa.
United Nations General Assembly: overwhelming condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
EPA-EFE/Justin Lane
A UN resolution condemning the war passed with an overwhelming majority. But there is little consensus about how to cease hostilities.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, viceroy of India, discusses Britain’s partition plan with Hindu and Muslim leaders in the summer of 1947.
AP Photo/Max Desfor
Economic growth picked up significantly for both India and Pakistan after independence, but they’ve chosen very different paths since.
South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor hosts US secretary of state Antony Blinken for a strategic dialogue.
Jacoline Schoonees/Dirco
It’s unclear what practical purpose the drafters of South Africa’s foreign policy document envisaged it serving, and who its intended audience is.
Walkout: Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.
EPA-EFE/Angelo Carconi
This was the first time Russia, China and the west have come face to face since the invasion of Ukraine. It did not go well.
Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin
Hosted by Russia, the summit gave the BRICS group a chance to harmonise their approach before the G20 meeting in Riyadh.
Russian soldiers march during a Victory Day parade. The country makes guns and armoury as its main beneficiation output.
Photo by Dmitry Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images
South Africa would benefit greatly from the rich beneficiation experience of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Shutterstock
BRICS member countries can help global efforts to manage invasive species.
South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation minister, Lindiwe Sisulu (second left) with ministers from Brazil and India.
DIRCO
Three urgent issues at the interplay of foreign and domestic affairs will be of strategic long-term importance to South Africa and Africa.