Deputy Minister Zuko Godlimpi attends 14th BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting in Moscow, 26 Jul

The Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Zuko Godlimpi departs for Russia tomorrow where he will attend the 14th BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting in Moscow, on 26 July 2024. The Trade Ministers meeting will be preceded by a roundtable discussion with the theme “The Place of BRICS in the New Architecture of the International Economic System”.

Trade Ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are expected to attend the meeting. The meeting is part of a series of meetings that Russia is hosting as part of the build-up to the BRICS Summit that will take place in  Kazan, Russia in October 2024.

The BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues Meeting, which will be attended by senior officials from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), will take place before the BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting.

After the inclusion of new BRICS members, namely Iran, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia in the BRICS grouping, the bloc has a combined population of about 3.5 billion people representing more than 45% of the world’s population and account for 36% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when measured at purchasing power parity. The bloc also has 24.5% of the share in world exports and produce about 44% of the world’s crude oil.

Deputy Minister Godlimpi says the BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting will provide South Africa with an opportunity to, amongst others, build mutually-beneficial trade and investment relations that promote value-added trade and economic transformation,  facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) into the productive sectors with BRICS plus partners and coordinate positions on global governance, including in relation to the multilateral trading system.

“South Africa’s membership of BRICS has been one of the key strategic partnerships of the democratic South Africa. One of the founding values of BRICS is to ensure a more equitable, balanced and representative global political, economic and financial architecture,” says Godlimpi.

“Our participation in the fourteenth meeting of the BRICS trade ministers in Russia will enable us to contribute significantly in discussions aimed at creating a conducive environment for the participation of BRICS countries in global trade and also in intra-BRICS trade,” adds Godlimpi.

He further explains that with the addition of new members to BRICS, including two countries from Africa, there will be an opportunity to further enhance cooperation of BRICS countries on trade and investment in Africa, including on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“The meeting provides South Africa with opportunity to explore new areas of economic and trade cooperation particularly with new members,” he stresses.

BRICS members have strengthened cooperation on wide range of trade and economic issues including efforts to strengthen Multilateral Trading System (MTS) including World Trade Organisation (WTO) reform, climate and trade related issues, digital economy, supply chains for resilience and cooperation on promoting Medium Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).

The Russian Presidency in 2024 also introduced new initiatives including cooperation on utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) for trade and investment and cooperation on Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

“BRICS offers a unique opportunity for member countries to extend and advance their cooperation in ways that meaningfully promotes their economic development agenda, in particular, and that of the global South in general. South Africa will continue to identify opportunities for cooperation with BRICS partners both bilaterally and through the BRICS platform, that would present opportunities for the continent to transition away from its historic role as a commodity exporter towards higher productivity value addition,” says Godlimpi.

For media enquiries and interviews:
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
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E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za