The 2023 BRICS summit is the fifteenth upcoming annual
BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states:
Brazil,
Russia,
India,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and
South Africa.
South African President
Cyril Ramaphosa also invited the leaders of 67 countries to the summit, including 53 other African Countries,
Bangladesh,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
,
Indonesia and
Iran.
BRICS expansion
Several countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group.
Participating leaders
File:Foto oficial de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (estreita).jpg, alt=BrazilLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President,
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President
File:Сергей Лавров (14-02-2022) (cropped).jpg, alt=RussiaSergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister,
Sergei Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
Lavrov served as the Permanent Represe ...
, Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
File:Vladimir Putin (2020-02-20).jpg, alt=Vladimir Putin, President,
Vladimir Putin, President (videoconference only）
File:PM Modi Portrait(cropped).jpg, alt=IndiaNarendra Modi, Prime Minister,
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
File:Xi Jinping 2019.jpg, alt=ChinaXi Jinping, President,
Xi Jinping, President
File:2019 Reunião Informal do BRICS - 48142657142 (cropped).jpg, alt=South AfricaCyril Ramaphosa, President (Host),
Cyril Ramaphosa, President (Host)
Controversies
Participation of Vladimir Putin
In March 2023, the
International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest
warrant against Russian President
Vladimir Putin for
war crimes during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.
is required as an ICC signatory to honour the warrant.
In May 2023, South Africa government, led by the
African National Congress (ANC),
granted all invited leaders
diplomatic immunity. It was unclear whether this would prevent Putin from being arrested if he attended. According to the
Department of International Relations and Cooperation, it was standard practice in South Africa to confer such immunity to attendees of international conferences held in the country.
In response, the
opposition Democratic Alliance initiated legal action to force an arrest.
By early June 2023, moving the summit to China was being considered to avoid the issue. In mid-July 2023,
Vladimir Putin announced that he would not attend the summit "by mutual agreement" and would instead be sending Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
Lavrov served as the Permanent Represe ...
.
References
External links
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{{Russian invasion of Ukraine
21st-century diplomatic conferences (BRICS)
2023 conferences
2023 in South Africa
2023 in international relations
2023 controversies
BRICS summits
Events affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Diplomatic conferences in South Africa
2020s in Johannesburg
August 2023 events in South Africa