CAIRO: The third summit of the BRICS leaders — heads of state and government from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — concluded in Sanya, Hainan Province, China on April 14 as participants expressed concern with the turbulence in Libya and across North Africa and the Middle East. BRICS leaders endorsed the African Union's initiative on Libya, while committing themselves to continue to work through the United Nations Security Council to secure multilateral support for a solution that avoids the escalation of violence, according to a statement. All five BRICS members are currently members of the Security Council. “Many of the BRICS skeptics asked what value South Africa could add to a forum of the world's largest emerging economies,” comments Miller Matola, chief executive of the International Marketing Council of South Africa. “What needs to be taken into account is that a forum like BRICS is as much about business of economic cooperation as about addressing other challenges facing both developing, and developed economies. South Africa's presence most certainly added a critical dimension to the forum's ability to engage the issues of conflict in Libya and other African states.” A major area of discussion at the Sanya summit was the reform of global governance of international trade and finance. The BRICS have a clear agenda to drive the case for representation of developing economies on institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. An interbank cooperation agreement was signed between the Development Bank of Southern Africa and corresponding institutions in Brazil, Russia, India and China at the closing media briefing at the BRICS Summit. A free trade agreement among three regional economic communities in Africa: SADC, the Common Market of East and Southern Africa and the East African Community, is imminent. South Africa will host and chair the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
