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SCO and BRICS summits in Ufa

South African president: BRICS influences global geopolitics

The first official summit took place in June 2009 in Russia’s Yekaterinburg

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

PRETORIA, July 11. /TASS/. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is pleased with the outcomes of the VII BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia, and says the group influences global political and economic affairs.

"There is no doubt in our minds that almost seven years after we joined BRICS, the world's geopolitics is changing and the BRICS bloc of countries is having a significant impact particularly on the developing economies. We are pleased with the outcomes of the seventh BRICS Summit," the president said upon his return from Russia.

"Amongst other things, the BRICS Leaders welcomed the entry into force of the Agreement on New Development Bank (NDB) signed during the VI BRICS Summit in Fortaleza. The Leaders said the NDB shall serve as a powerful instrument for financing infrastructure investment and sustainable development projects in the BRICS and other developing countries as well as emerging market economies," the presidential administration said in a statement.

BRICS is an informal association of the world’s five major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - founded in June 2006. The first official summit took place in June 2009 in Russia’s Yekaterinburg. Since then, meetings at the highest level are held annually in member countries. The latest summit took place in Russia’s city of Ufa on July 8-9.

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