President Cyril Ramaphosa has rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the 2023 BRICS Summit and a State Visit by China to Pretoria, hours before the summit. Picture: GCIS
The three-day summit, which ends on Thursday, has seen South Africa’s law enforcement agencies making their last preparations ahead of the much-anticipated global event.
The President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was the first BRICS head of state to touch down in the country on Monday after his arrival at OR Tambo International Airport.
The Brazilian President was received by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Dr Naledi Pandor.
He was followed by the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose arrival, also on Monday, became his fourth state visit to this country and his second visit abroad this year.
This rare occasion for one of the world’s widely respected leaders underscored the importance which Jinping attaches to South Africa, Africa, BRICS and the Global South.
Jinping’s arrival was then followed by that of Mr Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of Delegation for the Russian Federation. He, too, was received by International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Mr Alvin Botes, as he arrived at the Waterkloof Airforce Base.
After Tuesday’s abbreviated state visit in Pretoria, Xi and President Cyril Ramaphosa will head to Sandton for the opening of the 15th summit of BRICS, the bloc of emerging nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
For the better part of this morning, Ramaphosa is expected to host his Chinese counterpart before kicking the summit off later this afternoon.
According to presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, the welcome ceremony will take place on Tuesday morning at the Union Buildings in Pretoria ahead of the summit.
He said the state visit by the Chines president takes place within the context of celebrating 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, while historic ties date back to the Bandung Conference of 1955.
He added that the relations between South Africa and the People’s Republic of China are governed by a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), whose programme of action is set out in a Ten-Year Strategic Programme of Cooperation (2020–2029).
“The State Visit by President Xi on 22 August will give the leaders and their delegations an opportunity to reflect on developments under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and to consider further deepening of cooperation.
“The visit crowns deliberations in which the two governments have been engaging on implementing structures such as the Bi-National Commission, Joint Working Group, People-to-People Exchange Mechanism and Strategic Dialogue,” Magwenya said in a statement.
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