When Jim O'Neill, then Global Economist at Goldman Sachs, put forward the idea of BRIC in 2001, he could not have expected that the acronym term he used to describe the four rapidly growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would develop into one of the most important global multilateral cooperation mechanisms. Since 2009, when the first BRIC leaders meeting was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, state leaders of BRIC members now meet annually to strengthen cooperation and discuss the issues that affect them and the world. This year, they met in Sanya, a resort city in south China's Hainan Island on April 14.

The BRIC economies are currently worth between $11 trillion and $12 trillion, while the figure for the United States is $15 trillion, he said, observing that by 2018, they will probably be bigger than the United States.

Newest member

This year's leaders meeting welcomed a new member, South African President Jacob Zuma, who led the meeting's third largest delegation to Sanya.

In December 2010, South Africa, the largest economy in Africa, and seen as the gateway to the continent, became an official member, turning BRIC into BRICS. South Africa is widely believed to represent the whole continent of Africa in the mechanism.

"After South Africa joined in, the cooperation mechanism has expanded its representation to cover the four continents of Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa," Zhang Zhongxiang, Deputy Director of the Department of West Asian and African Studies of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told ChinAfrica. "This also provides good opportunities for African development."

Zhang noted that South Africa's entry would exert a positive influence on the future development of BRICS through facilitating other BRICS members to launch cooperation with African countries. "Because of its great influences in Africa, especially in the southern part, South Africa is regarded as a representative of Africa. It is a bridge tower leading the rest of the world to Africa," said Zhang.

"South Africa has the advantages in economic management, natural resource reserves and good relations with many countries and regions," Yu Ping, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, told ChinAfrica. He noted that though compared with other BRICS countries, South Africa has much smaller economic aggregation, population and territory; the country has great energy and potential in its future development.

Figures also show the importance of Africa to the other BRICS countries. Though the foreign direct investment to African countries dropped by 30 percent in 2008-09 owing to the grave international financial crisis, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce of China showed that China's investment to the continent rocketed by 80 percent during that period of time. An official report from Brazil last year also revealed that the country's investment to Africa had exceeded $10 billion since 2003; Indian Minister of Commerce Anand Sharma predicted on March 28 that his country's trade volume with African countries would rise to $75 billion in 2015 from $45 billion in 2010-11.

BRICS benefits South Africa

BRICS mechanism will also benefit South Africa's development. In his speech to the country's parliament on March 17, South African President Zuma described BRICS as "an important grouping to be part of, given the role of emerging economies in advancing the restructuring of the global political, economic and financial architecture into one that is more equitable, balanced and which rests on the important pillar of multilateralism."

"Joining BRICS will bring more development opportunities to South Africa," Tshepo Nkosi, Communications Manager PR and Media for the International Marketing Council of South Africa, told ChinAfrica. He said that taking the advantage, South Africa can further improve its international competitiveness because the mechanism will make it easier for other countries to invest in South Africa. "We can also expand our foreign trade volume."

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Jerry Vilakazi, Chief Executive Officer of Business Unity South Africa, said that the BRICS summit "comes at the right time for South Africa."

According to Vilakazi, South Africa is seeking every possible opportunity to tame its high-level unemployment, a worrisome problem President Zuma has declared the country's No.1 state enemy.

The summit adopted the Sanya Declaration, in which the five countries not only vowed to strengthen cooperation among themselves, but also speak in one voice on some international hot topics such as the Libyan issue, anti-terrorism campaign, climate change and UN reform.