HAVANA, August 20. /TASS/. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Sunday that he plans to visit South Africa to attend the upcoming BRICS summit.

"In the next few hours, we will set off for our favorite Africa to pay official visits to Angola, Mozambique, and Namibia, as well as to take part in the BRICS summit in South Africa. These are brotherly nations, with which we have shared history characterized by unfailing solidarity," he wrote on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter). "Cuba will take part in the BRICS summit for the first time. We will be doing this as the chair of the Group of 77 and China. We will speak in favor of promoting effective coordination between the two mechanisms to defense the interests of the Global South."

Cuba is hold chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China for the first time since the establishment of this association. The decision to set up this structure was made at a meeting of ministers from developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America in 1964. Initially, the organization had 77 member nations. Now, it is the largest UN-headquarters interstate organization uniting 134 developing countries with a population of more than six billion.

The BRICS summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 22-24. According to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, among the topics to be discussed at the BRICS summit will be the organization’s expansion. She noted that 23 countries have applied for membership.

The BRIC group was established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2011, South Africa joined the group, adding the "S" to the acronym.