BRICS provides an opportunity to cooperate with different countries and to find "synergies and overlap that can actually be leveraged to ensure you improve the lives of your people and also ensure that it brings peace and stability globally," according to Julius Mattai, Sierra Leone's Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources.
"With Ethiopia and Egypt joining from the African continent, I think, it opens the door for so many other African countries as well. And I hope one day Sierra Leone will also consider that," Mattai says.
Sierra Leone is just one of many African countries looking forward to working with BRICS members. Despite a country having "an abundance of resources," Sudan could be "lacking technology" and "human resources," according to H.E. Malik Agar, Vice Chairperson of Sudan's Sovereign Council.
"We are looking forward to the country of Russia for human resources mobilization and training, and we are looking for the technology, technical know-how of utilizing those resources," he states.
Speaking about the upcoming BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Ben Joubert, South Africa's sous-sherpa to BRICS, said the agenda of the event is likely to include discussions on the progress on the issue of local currencies and payment platforms, the idea of a partner country model, and the issue of how the UN or the world system should be reformed.
To hear what else the key speakers had to say, as well as insights on business, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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