Upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa to focus on Nelson Mandela’s global spirit

Johannesburg, July 19: The 10th summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is set to begin here on July 25, days after the completing of the birth centenary of iconic leader Nelson Mandela, and the grouping's focus has remained on how the five members can deliver more benefits to Africa in line with the "Mandela Spirit" of setting up an equitable and just world order, said a CGTN report from China.

The leaders of the five countries are set to reach Johannesburg for the three-day summit of one of the contemporary economic blocs that aim to establish an alternative international order. This is the second time that South Africa is hosting this summit since it was held in Durban in 2013, the year Mandela passed away.

The summit this year has been timed to coincide with Mandela's birth centenary celebrations. South Africa's BRICS Sherpa (special emissary) Anil Sooklal said in Pretoria earlier this year that the summit would give them a chance to reflect on the first decade of inter-BRICS cooperation and clear the way for the next decade, the CGTN report added. The BRICS was founded in 2006 and South Africa became its member in 2010.

"The BRICS' open, inclusive, cooperative and win-win spirit is highly consistent with the Mandela Spirit. It is also the long-cherished wish of President Mandela and all other previous generations of the African National Congress (ANC) revolutionary leaders to fight for a more fair, just, and equitable international order," China's Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian was quoted as writing in an article published in the South African media, the report added.

The BRICS summit organisers have made special provisions to commemorate Mandela at this year's event by featuring his image on the special logo of the summit.