Kazan, Russia: President Cyril Ramaphosa has on Tuesday afternoon held a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia.
"We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend who supported us right from the beginning, from the days of our struggle against Apartheid...up until now.
"So, we are really delighted to be here and to know that we are going to have very important discussions here in Kazan, within the BRICS family," President Ramaphosa said.
He told the Russian delegation at the meeting that since the last BRICS Summit held in South Africa last year, the country has held elections and formed a Government of National Unity.
"We have formed a Government of National Unity following our elections in May of this year. We will have time...to talk more about that and inform you how that whole process of governing South Africa with a number of other partners is evolving as we have sought to unite the country, to stabilise the country politically," he said.
The President added that the South African delegation was enthused to be at the BRICS Summit.
The delegation includes Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau and Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga.
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"We would like to congratulate you for...being the President of BRICS having taken over from us. As South Africa we are sure that we will be able to chair our summit so that BRICS and the enlarged BRICS body can continue growing.
"We also do look forward...to the Summit itself, to participate with all other countries under your leadership and deal with matters that are of great importance in geo-political terms and everything that is happening around the world and also, the matters that have to do with trade and climate change [and] with peace and security," President Ramaphosa said.
The expanded BRICS now covers 43% of the world's population, 32% of the world's land area, around 35% of global GDP and 20% of world exports and provides opportunities to develop mutually beneficial cooperation that contributes to the sustainable growth and development of South Africa.
The leaders of Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates will meet for the first time since new members were invited to join BRICS during the Johannesburg II BRICS Summit of 23 August 2023.
During the Summit, BRICS leaders will reflect on the status of mutually beneficial BRICS cooperation, regional and global economic and political developments as well as global governance reform.
