BRICS' weight in the global community 'has clearly increased', due to the larger population and GDP it accounts for, according to Mr Ebrahim Patel, South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry.
"This is a game changer in bringing together the economies of the South and connecting them much more," Minister Patel says.
BRICS is an opportunity for the Global South to engage in closer cooperation, believes Enoch Gondongwana, Minister of Finance of South Africa.
"I don't want to play into the West's terminology of scaremongering that what we're developing an anti-West perspective. We're developing a deepening relationship between the global South. That's all we're doing. And that to me is of critical importance," Minister Gondongwana explains.
Check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast from Sputnik Africa to see what other Ministers and prominent figures have to say about the BRICS summit and the expansion of the BRICS Group.
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