2023-07-01 17:11:58
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna confirmed on June 20 in Pretoria, at the end of her visit to South Africa, President Emmanuel Macron’s intention to participate in the next BRICS summit scheduled for August in Johannesburg, reported the French press.
The decision to invite “must be made not by France, but by the BRICS and in the forefront of them, South Africa”, which this year assumes the presidency of the multilateral mechanism bringing together China, Russia , India, Brazil and South Africa. “It is the host who determines who should be invited”, confirmed Monday, June 19 the head of South African diplomacy Naledi Pandor during a joint press briefing with her French counterpart, stressing that the decision will be taken by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. In an exclusive report dated June 12, the French daily L’Opinion reported that Macron had asked his South African counterpart for an invitation to the BRICS summit. Ramaphosa was in Paris to take part in the Summit for a new global financial pact which was held on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 June. It remains to be seen whether the two leaders have mentioned a possible meeting in Johannesburg.
A shocking request in Moscow
The French president wants to be the first Western leader to participate in the next Brics summit, which is to be held in August in South Africa. A request that shocks Moscow, while the presence of Vladimir Putin at this meeting remains uncertain because of the arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC.
“It is clear that the heads of state who pursue such a hostile and unacceptable policy towards us, who are so determined to isolate Russia internationally and adhere to the NATO line of inflicting a strategic defeat on us , do not have their place as guests of the Brics”, declared, on June 22, the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Ryabkov, quoted by the daily Kommersant.
Admittedly, it is the host of the summit who chooses the guests, conceded the diplomat, “but all member countries of the BRICS must be consulted, and we have not hidden our position from our colleagues in South Africa. We expect that our point of view will be fully taken into account”.
As the daily Izvestia recalls, the first public mention of Emmanuel Macron’s desire to participate in the next summit of this group of states made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Sud (Brics), which positions itself as wanting to counterbalance the power of the G7 countries, dates from June 14 in the columns of the French newspaper L’Opinion.
With agencies
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