BRICS1 on Day 2: Plenary session

We don’t yet have what we came for. This is:

Who are the selected new BRICS members?
What are the arrangements for currency swaps?
What is the progress and future steps for a BRICS currency?

But, we do have uplifting speeches and hope to get the rest during the course of the day. The South African Broadcasting Corporation cannot yet find its way out of the dark with a clean audiotrack of the different translations but Sputnik and RT are filling the gap.

This is a clean livestream from RT on their Rumble platform. You have to forward the video.

https://rumble.com/v3apv2u-15th-brics-summit-in-south-africa-day-2.html

Summaries:

Ramaphosa: BRICS Stands for Equitable & Multipolar World – Financial Institutions Being Weaponised

The South African leader has said poverty is one of the major global challenges, BRICS must drive towards an inclusive economic recovery. This includes, he said, trade in national currencies and reform of major institutions.

Cyril Ramaphosa added that the bloc continues to engage with Africa, and advance the interests of the Global South. Peace and stability are pre-conditions within the UN Charter.

Lula da Silva has said that Brazil is ready to pull its efforts for a ceasefire in Ukraine, with the current situation showing the failings of the UN Security Council.

The Brazilian President highlighted a weakening of global governance while speaking at the BRICS Business Forum – adding everyone deserves to live in peace, from Palestine to Sudan and beyond.

In economic spheres, Lula stressed the importance of the New Development Bank and its role as a financial system for the Global South.

President Putin:

– Western hegemony led to the crisis in Ukraine

– Russia is grateful to BRICS for attempting to resolve the ongoing conflict

– The role of women in the BRICS bloc should be expanded, Russia supports South Africa’s proposal for a ministerial meeting on this topic

– President Putin invited the BRICS countries to the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum – to be held November 16-18

– BRICS countries should expand settlements in national currencies

– The president proposed holding the next BRICS summit in Kazan

Prime Minister Modi:

Narendra Modi spoke about breaking barriers, revitalising economies, inspiring innovation, creating opportunities and shaping the future.

Lay ground for implementation of BRICS expansion
Co-operate to counter terrorism in global arena
Diversity of civilisation the foundation of multipolar world
Tech & education vital for future of BRICS nations – must give access to education for children in most remote areas
Big Cat Alliance can be joint effort to protect diverse animal kingdom in every BRICS nation
AI will remove language barriers
One Earth, One Family, One Future – Policy for future efforts through India’s G20

President Xi Jinping: World Shifting & Re-Grouping – BRICS Must Promote Inclusivity

Xi Jinping has stressed that development should not be a privilege reserved for a few nations, saying that the global economic recovery is still on shaky ground.

The president announced further co-operation on AI for govt frameworks, making it reliable and controllable. In science, China will establish an innovative incubation pact.

Xi said developing nations must have a voice, traditional cultures should prevail – and muscle should not rule over them.

Slowly a trend is emerging though it is hard to find with the audio difficulties.

So far, high level agreement looks like this:

BRICS Expansion should be consensus based
Respect cultures & traditions for development
Inclusivity based on international rules/UN Charter
Currency trade: diversify using national reserves
Science & innovation – co-operation in key fields

Let’s see what the rest of today brings.

A few of my observations and they may be highly critical.
When President Putin speaks, the applause is thunderous and the sense is that he is respected and trusted, no matter what he says.
When President Xi Jinping speaks, the attention paid to his words is acute. People listen carefully.
When Prime Minister Modi speaks, the attention fades
When President Lula speaks, he is a little off the mark and into his requirements. BRICS requirements feel to be secondary.
When President Ramaphosa speaks, he is long winded, repetitive and there is nothing new. The press apparently asked to leave at one stage, to take a break. He was highly critical of that and dismissed them for a time. Well folks, if the press loses interest, what can we conclude?

Basically so far we conclude exactly what Pepe Escobar said and what I said in the previous months. South Africa is the weak BRIC (and I have a sense Ramaphosa is trying to win his upcoming election by romancing Africa!), Brazil at this stage is an also-ran and India is a dark horse.

Some positive and real and actual news is that China offered to South Africa a village where they can start working on poverty alleviation – under China’s guidance. I don’t at this stage see much more reality, but, we have not seen the proposals of the Business summit. There is a clear sense that Modi, Lula and Ramaphosa is driven by their local politics and not as much by the higher call that BRICS is supposed to stand for. Further, I do not see that this BRICS is as cohesive in their actions as we expected.

Let’s see the results of this summit. As I’ve said before I will not be comfortable about BRICS before Russia takes the chair for the next year. So far, I miss a ‘vibe’. The ‘vibe’ is there when Putin speaks, and when Xi Jinping speaks, but then, it goes missing.