Saturday, January 01, 2011

Brazil Welcomes South Africa's Entry to BRIC

Brazil welcomes South Africa's entry to BRIC

BRASILIA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government Friday welcomed South Africa's entry to the BRIC, formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China.

"South Africa will bring an important contribution to the group because of its economic relevance and its constructive political action, and its commitment to issues concerning Africa and the international agenda," the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

South Africa is a country with which Brazil has developed a strategic relationship and conducted extensive dialogue and cooperation within the Forum of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), the statement said.

South Africa and Brazil are also members of other major groups, such as the G-20, G-77 and the South America-Africa Summit (ASA), it added.

"The addition of South Africa will expand the geographic representation of the mechanism at a time that we are looking, on the international level, to reform the financial system and increase democratization of global governance," the statement said.

The term BRIC was coined in 2001 by Jim O'Neil, an economist for the U.S. bank Goldman Sachs, who predicted Brazil, Russia, India and China will be a dominant force in the global economy by 2050.

The next BRIC summit is scheduled for April 2011 in Beijing, China, where for the first time South Africa will participate as a member of the group.

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