South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent invitations to leaders of 67 African and ‘Global South’ countries as well as 20 organizations to participate in the upcoming BRICS summit, and 34 countries have confirmed their participation so far. The country’s foreign minister told, Naledi Pandor.
“The President invited 67 leaders from Africa and the ‘Global South’ to participate in this activity (…), with at least 34 countries confirmed so far,” he said in a speech broadcast on YouTube. .
He added that the UN Secretary-General and representatives of other organizations were also invited.
The minister said French President Emmanuel Macron has not been invited to the BRICS summit in South Africa. “In that sense, no invitation has been issued,” Pandor said in response to a question on whether Macron had been invited.
News24 portal had earlier reported that Macron never received an invite for the BRICS summit. In June, French outlet Opinion, citing sources, reported that Macron had asked his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa the possibility of attending the summit in Johannesburg in August, an initiative that surprised the South African president.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov commented on Macron’s willingness to attend the BRICS summit, indicating that the presence of “hostile” leaders such as Macron at the BRICS summit is inappropriate.
The BRICS summit will be held from 22 to 24 August with the participation of the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa; Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to participate by videoconferencing.
