Host South Africa Kicks Off Brics With Gender Debate

The Kwazulu-Natal provincial government will host a series of high-level engagements as a precursor to the 15th Brics Summit that will take place in South Africa in August 2023. Led by the province's Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, the engagements will kick off with the Brics Gender Dividend Debate led by prominent women political leaders, including government officials, and economists from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and other African nations. Dube-Ncube said the objective of the debate is "to explore the political economy of gender in a multipolar world". She said the main topics of discussion will include the impact of the evolving BRICS and African political and economic landscape on transforming industries to become gender-neutral and inclusive.

This Brics Summit in August has been steeped in controversy since the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russia's President Vladimir Putin for his country's war against Ukraine. The South African government has been under increasing pressure to arrest Putin when he lands in South Africa. There have also been calls for the Brics summit to be moved to China, or for Putin to attend the summit virtually.

South Africa has since given President Vladimir Putin diplomatic immunity, should he decide to attend the summit in the country.