APA-Pretoria (South Africa) The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit will focus on discussing the greater use of local currencies in world trading between them when the five countries meet on Tuesday, South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor has said.
Speaking during a TV interview on Sunday, Pandor said these discussions would not be about replacing the US dollar but rather about seeking a currency which would not be affected in its trading with other partners during a unilateral imposition of sanctions.
“The key issue that has been discussed is greater use of our local currencies for international trade,” the minister said on the sidelines of a meeting to draft an agenda for the summit with fellow BRICS foreign ministers.
She added: “So, we’ve been less interested in discussing not using the dollar. But rather in reducing its dominance in all trade matters.”
BRICS needed to find a model that allowed less economic harm, particularly to more fragile economies, should such sanctions be imposed, Pandor said.
She dismissed the idea that South Africa’s alliance to the BRICS bloc was harmful to its diplomatic ties with the West, saying that these countries had a variety of diplomatic ties of their own.
“I think it’s very wrong. There are many of these ties that exist all over the world. Most recently you’ve had the Indo-Pacific alliance, which the US is part of,” the minister said.
“And we don’t see it as hostile to us,” Pandor said.
NM/jn/APA