President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday showered praises on the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) organisation, saying Pretoria has greatly benefited from trading with this group of emerging economies since it started 12 years ago.
Writing in his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said South Africa’s total trade with other BRICS countries reached US$47 billion in 2021 – up from US$32.5 billion in 2017.
This was because from the onset, the five countries identified the strengthening of economic and financial ties as one of the key pillars of their cooperation.
“The countries have adopted the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership to increase access to each other’s markets, promote mutual trade and investment, and create a business-friendly environment for investors in all BRICS countries,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “An important part of this strategy, particularly for South Africa, is to diversify trade so that more manufactured goods, rather than raw commodities, are traded.”
Last year over 17% of South Africa’s exports were destined for other BRICS countries, while over 29% of the country’s total imports came from these countries, he added.
He said these countries were, therefore, significant trading partners and the value of this trade was continuing to grow.
With the South African government working to rebuild the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, “there is much to be gained from our participation in BRICS and the relationships we have established with other member countries,” Ramaphosa said.
He also announced that this year he and other BRICS leaders would virtually converge for a summit, with Chinese President Xi Jinping hosting the event at a date to be announced in due course.
NM/jn/APA