BRASILIA, November 13. /TASS/. South Africa values its membership of the BRICS group (comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday at a reception for African ambassadors held on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

"South Africa’s membership of BRICS enables us to employ additional and powerful tools in the fight to address unemployment, poverty & inequality, through increased trade, investment, tourism, capacity building, skills and technology transfers," Ramaphosa said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Brazil for the BRICS summit as head of a large government delegation. The president stressed that South Africa aims at the current summit to contribute to the BRICS future operation and to help forge ties between its members.

South Africa’s president noted that he would take advantage of the current summit to present to the BRICS counterparts the priorities of South Africa’s rotating presidency of the African Union in 2020. Then the African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to be launched.