FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
BRICS-Plus ‘Global South’ Innovation Marks Momentum Toward New Paradigm
July 28, 2018 (EIRNS)—The three-day BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, which closed July 27 with a presentation by host South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, had unprecedented involvement of heads of state and government from nations currently chairing the most important regional organizations of the “Global South.” Their presence in Johannesburg came about as a follow-on to the 2017 BRICS Summit, at which host country China initiated the “BRICS-Plus” format of inviting the leaders of five special guest nations, under the rubric of representing “Emerging Markets and Developing Nations.”
But this year, the guest nation innovation was expanded even further, to systematically engage all those countries which head standing organizations, called “Regional Economic Communities,” of the Global South and United Nations. They are not only from Africa, but throughout the countries south of the Tropic of Cancer—i.e., the “South”—and nearby. This included heads of state and government from 13 nations currently chairing these institutions.
The title of the 2018 BRICS Plus Initiative for Outreach, was “BRICS Plus: Securing Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for the Prosperity of the Global South.” President Xi Jinping, in his remarks to the Outreach dialogue session at the summit, stressed that nations can jointly explore “new driving forces for development.” In this vein, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the course of the dialogue, has discussed nuclear power with nations including Zambia, South Africa, Egypt, and others.
The BRICS “Outreach” statement said,
“The rationale behind this BRICS Plus concept is to create a platform for greater interaction and partnerships amongst countries of the Global South to shape the agenda to effect changes in the global economy....”
It portends historic policy shifts to come, in particular at the September meeting in China of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
