PRETORIA, South Africa, July 7, 2017/APO/ -- 

Remarks by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the Informal Meeting of BRICS Leaders on the margins of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany (07 July 2017):

Your Excellencies

President Xi

President Temer

President Putin

Prime Minister Modi

Honourable Ministers

I would like to express our gratitude to President Xi as current chair of BRICS for convening us today, and the excellent arrangements made in this regard.

Colleagues,

The global economy is expected to register modest but positive growth in 2017.

However, a high degree of political and policy uncertainty create greater risk. We continue to witness manifestations of traditional and new challenges, indicative of the ever-widening disparities among the haves and have-nots.

We gather at global platforms, as today, to deal with critical issues such as migration, unequal access to technology, receding trends with respect to globalization, protectionism and global security. We must therefore continue working towards inclusive growth whilst supporting free trade in a manner that is beneficial to all.

We thus endorse efforts by the G20 to ensure “Inclusive Growth” designed to benefit all sectors of society.

As the Co-Chair of the G20 Development Working Group, South Africa will continue to highlight the concept of inclusivity, notably as it impacts on Africa and the developing world, so that it permeates throughout G20 initiatives.

Consistent with the spirit of inclusivity, any partnership with Africa must benefit the whole Continent and encompass a holistic approach.  Programmes such as the G20 Africa Partnership, including the Compact with Africa (CwA), should follow a consultative process aligned with the AU’s Agenda 2063, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and various other flagship AU programs.

We are also pleased that the Host Country Agreement for the Africa Regional Centre of the New Development Bank has been endorsed by the Board of Governors. We are currently busy with preparations for the official launch of the Africa Regional Center and wish to express our gratitude for the support received.

Your Excellencies,

I am pleased to note the good progress made in the intra- Brics collaboration over the past decade. Given the current difficult and challenging global environment we need to do more to strengthen and deepen our partnership for the mutual benefit of all our peoples.

We look forward to attending the Xiamen Summit in September 2017, where we will further engage and deliberate on our expanding intra-BRICS work programme. We wish to assure China of our full support for the success of the Summit and to jointly harvest the fruits of China’s Chairship.

I thank you

Distributed by APO on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Presidency.