From left, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira attend Outreach/BRICS Plus format session at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, October 24, 2024
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin today presided at the closing session of a summit of the Brics bloc, praising its role as a counterbalance to what he called the West’s “perverse methods.”
The three-day summit in the city of Kazan covered the deepening of financial co-operation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, efforts to settle regional conflicts and the expansion of the Brics group of nations.
The alliance that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa when it was founded in 2009 has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
As the Alliance of Sahel States and southern African nations advance pan-African goals, the African Union must listen and learn rather than parroting the Western line on these positive developments, writes ROGER McKENZIE
Money makers already exploit cleaning and catering contracts while the military-industrial complex diverts billions from health to warfare — but Bevan’s vision will endure as long as people fight for it, writes ROGER MCKENZIE
