Summit expected to discuss financial cooperation

Progress in BRICS financial cooperation to facilitate international trade is expected to be made at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, according to South African analysts.

"It is expected that there would be a follow-up on the Johannesburg declaration on the options or road maps and local currency payment systems to allow all members to trade with one another with local currency to reduce the US dollar volatility and provide options to help navigate the fragmented global systems," Gustavo de Carvalho, senior researcher at think tank South African Institute of International Affairs, said.

The 2024 BRICS Summit will be held from Tuesday to Thursday in Kazan. The 2023 BRICS Summit, which took place in Johannesburg, mandated the ministers of finance and central bank governors to explore new payment systems that BRICS could use, and report about it in the 2024 summit.

"The BRICS payment systems must start talking to each other," said Jerry Mashamba, from the BRICS secretariat.

"The current system of using the US dollars is one-sided and has got so many loopholes and room for manipulation. It is these distortions and disparities that we want to deal with," he said, adding no one is advocating for the "killing of the Visa or MasterCard".

BRICS countries have nearly half of the world's population, have natural resources including platinum, oil and gas, and should determine their price and their own time, said Mashamba, a chartered accountant.

He added, "We can't have one system throughout the world for determining the value, the currency; the Global South must speak and BRICS must rise."

Following the 2023 BRICS Summit, five countries became new members of the organization. Prior to this year's summit, more than 30 countries have expressed their eagerness to join the bloc.

Meanwhile, members may also discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to Carvalho.

"While BRICS have shied away from geopolitical issues in the past, it is expected that there would be some mention of the crisis in the Middle East since it affects some of its members, especially Iran and Egypt," he said.

He also said that BRICS could explore some "triangular cooperation" with the G20 and the G7 to forge greater cooperation with big economies.

Emmanuel Matambo, research director at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Africa-China Studies, said it is expected that the BRICS summit will continue to deepen trade and relations between the member states.

He said there are some areas of cooperation that South Africa and other African countries could explore, including energy and technology.

While addressing the media in Pretoria, South Africa, earlier this month, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, South Africa's minister of presidency, said President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend the BRICS summit. Ntshavheni said the BRICS summit will discuss issues about trade, global political matters and advancing cooperation between member countries.