ST. PETERSBURG, July 25. /TASS/. BRICS, an association consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is helping boost Africa’s role on the global arena and shows African countries that relations can be built without threats of restrictions, a South African expert said on Tuesday.

"BRICS makes it possible for the global South and Africa to see that the situation can be different, that people can freely maintain trade relations with each other without restrictions like we have seen before. This is what BRICS gives to the entire world: it is an opportunity for something different, an opportunity to maintain trade not at gunpoint and without any preliminary conditions," Mikatekiso Kubayi of the Institute for Global Dialogue and a research fellow at Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation, told a Russian-African conference of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"BRICS gives Africa an opportunity to strengthen relations with each other, attract investments, develop our economy, attract technologies," he said.

According to the expert, Africa wants to play a significant role in global relations, which must move towards being more equitable. "BRICS acts as an instrument for achieving this goal," he explained, adding that in return, Africa gives BRICS and Russia a vast market and an opportunity to work together on promising innovations.

The second Russia-Africa summit and an accompanying economic forum are scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg from July 27 through 28. The first such summit was held in Sochi from October 22-24, 2019 under the motto "For Peace, Security, and Development.".