BRICS Summit In Sandton, Johannesburg: Day 2 Overview

The BRICS Summit continued on August 22, Wednesday, with a full day of activities.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa discussed the impact of Artificial Intelligence, the bloc’s initiatives related to healthcare, the establishment of BRICS Space Constellation Consortium as well as the bloc’s future expansion goals.

The establishment of Space Constellation Consortium was one of the main discussion points. The initiative is expected to become the driving force for scientific research, space exploration and technological advancements. The members of the bloc plan to contribute resources to bridge technological gaps and to fund joint programs:

The host of the event, President Cyril Ramaphosa, emphasized that BRICS represents 41% of the world’s population, or, in other words, the cultures of more than 3 billion people. The sentiment was echoed by President Lula da Silva, adding that BRICS accounts for 31% of the world’s GDP in terms of purchasing power. The expansion of trade and further de-dollarization remain the bloc’s primary economic goals.

The importance of improving healthcare was another important topic on the agenda. The leaders discussed plans to create synergies for modern healthcare and traditional medicine. Their main objectives are to improve accessibility as well as to lower the cost of healthcare. Traditional medicine has become one of the focal points of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal, a program that seeks to promote well-being among the populations of the world’s developing nations. The BRICS bloc leaders voiced their alignment with the goal as well as their support in favor of exploring traditional medicine as a tool to enhance opportunities in the medical field.

Several months ago it was announced that the bloc seeks to create its own centralized pharmaceutical industry with headquarters in South Africa. The details of BRICS pharma initiative are discussed in detail in this video.

Artificial Intelligence became one of the main topics of the plenary session. President Xi Jinping highlighted the importance of a multi functional approach to the bloc’s development. BRICS plans to establish an Artificial Intelligence study group. The bloc recognizes that innovation and development are impossible without AI:

Further, Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of the bloc’s expansion in a way that would be beneficial to its current and potential new members:

"... International rules must be written jointly, rather than dictated by those with the strongest muscles or the loudest voice!.. We need to accelerate the BRICS's expansion process."

According to South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor, BRICS is expanding in 2023. It was announced that the leaders of the bloc, who held closed-door discussions on Wednesday, made a decision which will be announced by the end of the day Thursday, August 24th. It is expected that new members will be officially admitted.

The five leaders of BRICS support an accelerated path to the bloc’s expansion. President Ramaphosa said:

“We stand at the cusp of expanding the BRICS family, because it is through this expansion that we will be able to have a much stronger BRICS in these turbulent times that we live in.”

Among the possible new members are Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE.

President Lula da Silva believes the bloc has grown to reflect the potential of the new configuration of the world’s power. He praised adding South Africa in 2010, a move that represented the first expansion of the group. However, President da Silva addressed the growing geopolitical tensions as forces that corrode multi-nationalism and represent risks that are “unacceptable for humanity”:

Thursday, August 24th, will be the last day of the summit that is expected to culminate with the announcement of the bloc’s new member(s).

In case you missed BRICS Summit Day 1 overview, you are welcome to watch it next: