During a recent BRICS roundtable discussion, the head of Russia's Mineral Resources Agency suggested creating a "BRICS Geological Platform." This platform will be a "collective voice" for BRICS member states, according to Prof. Paul Omaji, President of The Consortium of Universities “Subsoil of Africa”, Rector of Admiralty University of Nigeria.
"If there are challenges for different countries to be able to optimize the value of that convention, you have a situation where collectively the countries that belong to a particular bloc will be able to harness their voices and ensure that they are able to get the benefits of sovereignty over their subsoil," he states.
Working on "securing the long-term future" is another driver of establishing the BRICS Geological Platform, according to Mr. Mosa Mabuza, CEO of the South African Council for Geoscience.
"I think in the main is our ability to safeguard or determine the possibilities of what the future looks like for BRICS member countries[...] There are very many areas of collaboration that we would be able to pull from one another to determine programs that we believe will augment and strengthen the BRICS as a multilateral unit," Mr. Mabuza explains.
Likewise, "developing mineral potential" of African countries as well as "legalizing the trade of these minerals globally" are two ways in which BRICS can assist African countries, as stated by Dr. Costantinos Berhetesfu, Ethiopian economist and former UN Senior Policy Advisor.
"Definitely, the BRICS countries have the resources to do this; they have the knowledge, the technological know-how, and also the willingness to do this," the expert believes.
To hear all the details on what the featured speakers had to say, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.
► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Deezer, Podcast Addict and Afripods.
► Check out all the episodes of AfroVerdict.