INTERNATIONAL relations minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah yesterday confirmed that Namibia is for the first-time attending the BRICS summit to observe the proceedings without actual participation.
BRICS, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is holding its 15th annual summit in Johannesburg this week and about 50 heads of state and government will be attending the summit. “Namibia is attending the summit as observers. We are just hearing that BRICS opened up doors for new membership, so we need to find out the procedures before declaring anything. It’s something to consider if it will bring benefits to our local economy,” the minister stated.
Responding to questions, Nandi-Ndaitwah confirmed she is one of the Namibian officials who will attend the summit.
According to AFP reporting this week, many countries want to join the group mainly because they see BRICS as an alternative to the current hegemony in world affairs.
The bloc already represents 40% of the planet’s population.
“There is growing interest in the bloc. At least 40 countries have expressed interest in joining and 23 of those have formally submitted applications to become BRICS members,” the report reads.
Security has been bolstered across Johannesburg where South African president Cyril Ramaphosa will host China’s Xi Jinping, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and about 50 other leaders.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the target of an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine and will not attend in person, but foreign minister Sergei Lavrov came on his behalf.
Xi, whose country is the most powerful BRICS member, met Ramaphosa ahead of the summit on just his second international trip of the year.
“Now as friends and BRICS partners, we stand together in our shared objective and quest for a better and more egalitarian world that frees the potential of all the people in the world,” said Ramaphosa in Pretoria at the opening of Xi’s state visit.
“Today, standing at a new historical starting point, inheriting friendship, deepening cooperation, and strengthening coordination are the common aspirations of the two countries, and are also the important tasks entrusted to us by the times,” said Xi.
This year’s gathering is themed ‘BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually- accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism’. Formally launched in 2009, BRICS now accounts for 23% of global GDP and 42% of the world’s population.
It has also been reported that several African countries have expressed desire to join the economic bloc, including Algeria, Egypt and Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani cautioned that if Namibia is to join the economic bloc, it should have clear targets and goals to drive its membership.
“Namibia joining the bloc is not a bad thing but we should prioritise what we want to achieve. We need to identify the low hanging fruits that are to advance our trade and value chains,” Venaani urged.
He further called for a schematic cross benefit that will be a win-win situation. According to him, Namibia should not be a small player in the bloc.
Furthermore, an independent economic and business researcher, Josef Sheehama said the BRICS summit will benefit the Namibian economy particularly since the Namibia dollar is connected to the South African rand and has a pegged exchange rate of one-to-one. This, Sheehama noted, should result in unlocking more benefits including development finance and increased trade and investment.
“These BRICS countries have a good relationship with Namibia. I see these meetings as a summit with the overall objective to create conditions for a sustainable, equitable and inclusive future. Namibia can capitalise on emerging opportunities to develop and adopt new technologies and put in place the right regulations and investment that will attract the investment needed,” the researcher stated.
Sheehama continued that this will serve to integrate Namibian energy markets trans-continentally and globally. Therefore, according to him, this reflects potential success which needs to be reinforced by numerous factors.
This includes continuing to strengthen institutions, support political engagement, promote democratisation, enhance policy coordination, improve ease of doing business, reduce debt, open financial markets, attract foreign direct investment, facilitate technology transfers, nurture human capital, and strengthen corporate governance.
Photo: BRICS
Caption: BRICS summit… International relations minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
Photo: Contributed