President Jacob Zuma today, 16 April 2011, returned from Sanya, Hainan Island in China where he attended the 3rd BRICS Leaders Summit. South Africa was attending the Leaders Summit for the first time as a member since joining the group in December 2010.
Members of BRICS are the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa. The population of the five countries combined is almost 3 billion thus making them key to economic development.
“As South Africa we received a very warm welcome from the four other members, and from the onset there was clear commitment to strengthen cooperation. We are certain that we are true partners and that South Africa and Africa as a whole will benefit particularly in areas of job creation, peace and security, attainment of the Millennium Development goals and fighting HIV and AIDS and poverty.
“We agreed that the 21st century should be marked by peace, harmony, cooperation and scientific development. Under the theme for this meeting, “Broad Vision, Shared Prosperity”, we conducted frank and in-depth discussions and agreed on strengthening BRICS cooperation and on promoting coordination on international and regional issues of common interest.
“As BRICS we want to continue our cooperation in the UN Security Council on Libya. We agreed that all the parties should resolve differences through peaceful means and dialogue,” President Zuma said.
The leaders also agreed to continue with expanding and deepening economic, trade and investment cooperation among the five countries, and the need for the creation of a broad-based international reserve currency system to provide stability and certainty.
The full communiqué is available here.
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Source: The Presidency
