The BRICS partnership has proven that it is more relevant today than it ever has been, given that the polarization and protectionism of traditional global powers is at an all-time high. Experts believe that this trajectory has particularly negative consequences for emerging economies and the developing South, which need to collaborate more effectively in order to offset the effects of this new reality. As South Africa prepares to host the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on July 25-27, it seeks to foster greater unity among the BRICS partners, and work toward a more equitable and inclusive global environment.

"BRICS transcends the mentality of drawing lines according to ideology in a zero-sum game, but adopts a new concept of win-win cooperation for common development," said Lin Songtian, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa.

At this juncture, BRICS has become the main engine driving world economic growth. A recent report released by the Standard Bank says that BRICS countries contribute 50 percent to the world economic growth. Being home to 40 percent of the world's population, three of the BRICS economies are ranked in the top 10 by GDP size, namely China (second), India (seventh) and Brazil (ninth).

The contribution of BRICS countries to global GDP has increased from 8 percent in 2000 to 24 percent today, according to South Africa economic portal Fin24.

South Africa's advantage

South Africa's membership in BRICS gives it an important advantage as the only African country in the group, and it is viewed as a leader and a bridge in connecting BRICS development cooperation with Africa. Statistics show that the partnership has also seen South Africa's trade with other BRICS members escalate exponentially, increasing by 54.7 percent between 2011 and 2016.

As host of this year's BRICS Summit, South Africa has the opportunity to set the agenda, and its priorities speak directly to Africa's urgent needs. South Africa's Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu has said that the country will propose five new areas for BRICS cooperation: A working group on peacekeeping, the creation of a vaccine research center, the creation of a BRICS gender and women forum, a strategic partnership toward progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the establishment of the BRICS Tourism Track of Cooperation.

"South Africa has determined that an outreach will take place with African leaders, which will ensure continuity from 2013, as well as support African industrialization and infrastructure development," Sisulu told parliament during her May budget speech. "For this outreach, various African countries have been invited [to the BRICS Summit] in various capacities, including Rwanda as the chair of the African Union, Namibia as the incoming chair of the Southern African Development Community, and Togo as the chair of the Economic Community of West Africa."

The head of the New Partnership for Africa's Development agency and the president of the African Development Bank have also been invited to the summit. South Africa will host a special event on the sidelines of the 10th BRICS Summit - the BRICS Plus Outreach - to ensure maximum cooperation and continuity between the South African Chairship of BRICS and the Chinese Chairship in 2017. Countries like Argentina, Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey have been invited to the BRICS Plus Outreach, as well as António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations.

BRICS Plus

Given China's initiative at the BRICS Xiamen Summit last year to create BRICS Plus, it may be that the eventual expansion of the group is on the cards. While South Africa would welcome an inclusive approach, a formal expansion of the grouping at some point would mean South Africa's influence in terms of setting the agenda may be diluted. This makes the agenda and outcomes of the upcoming summit all the more important, and South Africa will leverage this opportunity to the maximum in order to push forward the African agenda.

The summit is also an opportunity to further capitalize on the interaction of the private sector under the aegis of the BRICS Business Council, which is chaired by Independent Media's Iqbal Surve. It is expected that around 1,000 businesspeople will attend the business forum, and it presents a golden opportunity for South African executives to network and establish relations with executives from the BRICS countries on their home turf.

"The BRICS Business Council meeting presents the ideal opportunity to meet the requirements set by President Cyril Ramaphosa to attract significant foreign investment to the country and the continent," Surve said. "The BRICS Business Council themes for this year include the Fourth Industrial Revolution, youth entrepreneurship and food security."

BRICS bank

One of the most important accomplishments of BRICS to date has been the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai in 2015, which epitomizes the desire of major developing countries to play a bigger role in global governance.

The core purpose of the NDB is to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development in the BRICS countries. "It is a huge accomplishment that the NDB, which is three years old, has approved loans to date of $5.1 billion," Leslie Maasdorp, Vice President of the NDB, told ChinAfrica. The NDB is planning to reach $15 billion worth of loans by 2021.

"The NDB has completed its first loans to entities in keeping with its policy that 30 percent of its loans should go to non-sovereign operations or the private sector, while 70 percent of the loans should have a sovereign guarantee," said Maasdorp.

The recent meeting of the Board of Directors and Governors of the NDB has reached an important milestone, having approved a budget for six new projects. One important loan which the NDB has been committed to is for $200 million to freight transport company Transnet in order to enhance the capacity of its port in Durban, through the rehabilitation of its container terminal berths that are currently operating beyond their original design, and the upgrading of port infrastructure to provide additional slots for larger vessels. Sixty-five percent of South Africa's IGNORE through-put goes through the Port of Durban, but its lack of capacity is a key inhibitor of GDP growth in the country. While Transnet is 100-percent owned by the South African Government, the government is not underwriting the loan as it is being made directly to Transnet in an effort to reduce the number of sovereign guarantees.

Similarly, the state oil company in Brazil, Petrobras, is being given a sizeable loan to improve its environmental footprint, but the loan is not being underwritten by the Brazilian Government. The loan of $200 million is to assist Petrobras in complying with new environmental regulatory requirements, through the upgrading of the infrastructure of two existing refineries with the objectives of reducing harmful emissions and preventing water and soil contamination.

The NDB has already proven that it is helping fill an important gap in the global development finance architecture, as financing for infrastructure development is limited, despite growing demand. Observers believe that infrastructure is Africa's top priority, and the infrastructure built across the continent will help reverse the low levels of intra-regional economic exchange, thereby increasing Africa's share of global trade. Such developments are indicative of the real relevance of BRICS for emerging economies today. 

(Reporting from South Africa)

(Comments to niyanshuo@chinafrica.cn)