By BASHIR ADEFAKA with agency reports
BRICS will become economically more powerful than the G7, the Russian president said in an address to the Johannesburg summit
Although it has remained a major economic issue in Nigeria, President of the Russian Federatioin, Mr. Vladimir Putin, a Retired General of Russian Army, says the US dollar is losing its global role in an “objective and irreversible” process.
The Russian President told participants including the Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the 15th BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government in South Africa on Tuesday.
The Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, had departed Abuja for Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, to represent President Bola Tinubu at the all-important Summit, according to a press statement signed by Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola.
While in Johannesburg, Shettima was billed to join other business and political leaders across the world at the Summit scheduled for the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg from Tuesday August 22 to Thursday August 24.
Aside Russian President, who was speaking via video link, other notable world leaders attending the event include South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, President Xi Jinping of China, Brazil’s President, Luiz Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Seven-three dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the chairperson of the African Union Commission and President of the New Development Bank had also been invited.
The summit, ending today Thursday Augsut 24, has deliberated on issues on trade and investment facilitation, sustainable development, innovation, and global governance reform.
The summit is also to continue BRICS outreach to Leaders from Africa and the global South, as it focuses on global geopolitics, trade and infrastructure development. BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of five major emerging and developing economies.
The DEENDER reports that President Putin, who joined had earlier been reported would the meeting virtually, spoke via video link, after choosing not to attend the event in person.
De-dollarisation is “gaining momentum” Putin declared, adding that members of the group of major emerging economies are seeking to reduce their reliance on the greenback in mutual transactions.
The Russian leader claimed that the five countries, whose initials form BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are becoming the new world economic leaders, adding that their cumulative share of global GDP has reached 26 percent.
He noted that if measured by purchasing power parity, BRICS has already surpassed the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations – accounting for 31 percent of the global economy, compared to 30 percent for the G7.
Over the past 10 years, mutual investment between the BRICS member states has increased by six times. Their total investments in the world economy have doubled, while cumulative exports account for 20 percent of the global total, Putin said.
Moscow is focusing on re-orienting its transport and logistics routes towards “reliable foreign partners,” including BRICS members, to ensure an uninterrupted supply of energy and food to the international market.
Russia’s primary goals include developing the Northern Sea Route and the ‘North-South’ transport corridor, Putin stated. The first, passing through the Arctic Ocean, along Russia’s northern coastline, will ensure faster goods deliveries between Europe and the Far East. The second will connect Russia’s northern and Baltic ports to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, facilitating cargo movement between Eurasian and African nations.
“We are consistently increasing fuel, food and fertilizer supplies to the states of the Global South,” and actively contributing to global food and energy security, the Russian leader said. He blamed the current international food crisis on the West’s unilateral sanctions, describing them as “unlawful.”
“Illegitimate sanctions… seriously weigh on the international economic situation,” and the “unlawful freezing of sovereign states’ assets” constitutes a violation of free trade and economic cooperation rules.
The resource deficit and growing inequality worldwide are a “direct result” of such policies, the Russian president argued. He highlighted skyrocketing grain and food prices as the latest manifestation of this process, primarily affecting the most vulnerable nations.
Moscow is represented at the Johannesburg summit, which runs from August 22 to 24, by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Putin opted not to attend the event after a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a warrant for his arrest in March. The court based the order on Ukraine’s allegation that the Russian evacuation of children from the conflict zone amid hostilities between the two nations amounted to “unlawful population transfers.”
South Africa is a signatory of the Rome Statute of the ICC, and the US and its allies had pressured it to detain Putin should he travel to the country. Moscow has repeatedly denied the ICC’s allegations and stressed that it does not recognize the court’s authority, declaring the warrant legally null and void.
Although South African President Cyril Ramaphosa repeatedly stated that he would not carry out the order, claiming it would amount to a “declaration of war,” Moscow ultimately decided to send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the BRICS summit to represent Russia.
