Russia and China will be looking to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at the Brics summit in South Africa this week – when an expected joint dose of anti-West grumbling may take on a sharper edge as they move to bring Saudi Arabia closer.
Leaders from the Brics economic bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold three days of meetings in Johannesburg.
Chinese premier Xi Jinping's attendance underlines the diplomatic capital his country has invested in the bloc over the past decade.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will appear on a video link after his travel to South Africa was complicated by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him over the war in Ukraine.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will all be present.
The summit— the main event on Wednesday and sideline meetings on Tuesday and Thursday — is expected to produce general calls for more cooperation among countries in the global south amid rising discontent over perceived Western dominance of global institutions.
That's a sentiment that Russia and China are more than happy to lean into. Leaders or representatives of dozens more developing countries are set to attend the sideline meetings in Africa's wealthiest city to give Xi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will represent Putin in South Africa, a sizeable audience.
Xi headed to South Africa on Monday, state media reported.
The visit will be Xi's second international trip of 2023, after his official trip to Russia in March.
The Chinese leader previously visited South Africa in 2018 as he sought to enhance his country's diplomatic and economic ties with the continent.
New members?
On the agenda at this year's summit will be the possible future expansion of Brics membership, which the bloc has previously indicated it is open to.
Several African countries have expressed a desire to join the bloc, including Algeria, Egypt and Ethiopia.
A total of 69 countries have been invited to the summit, including all African states.
Brics represents 23 percent of the world's gross domestic product and 42 percent of the world's population.
(with newswires)
