Sergey Lavrov in South Africa discussed the preparations for the summit of BRICS leaders

On June 1, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov continued his third African tour of the year in the Republic of South Africa (South Africa). In the evening, he took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Cape Town. The two-day meeting takes place three months before the start of the organization’s summit in Johannesburg, South Africa (August 22-24), where, as the South African authorities reported, a decision could be made to create a single group currency. As a result of the meeting in Cape Town, “a very impressive and important final document” will also be made public, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov promised. Earlier, Lavrov visited Kenya, Burundi and Mozambique during the tour.

Prior to the general meeting, the Russian minister held talks with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor. In addition to bilateral relations, they discussed the idea of ​​a mediation mission of six African countries in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May. “The Russian side highly appreciated the course of preparations by the South African chairmanship for the BRICS summit and confirmed their readiness to provide Pretoria with comprehensive support,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In addition, Sergey Lavrov met with Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, with whom he discussed cooperation in the SCO, BRICS and G20 formats.

Lavrov’s meeting with Pandor and the BRICS ministerial meeting comes amid contentious organizational issues at the August summit due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pretoria was a signatory to the Rome Statute governing the activities of the ICC. Pandor told reporters on June 1 that “legal solutions” would be found in South Africa, but President Ramaphosa would have the final say. Putin was invited to the summit by the South African side in April. Reuters reported that because of the problem with the ICC, South Africa may ask China to host the BRICS summit, but Ryabkov denied this information, saying that the postponement option was not discussed.

Lavrov also met in Cape Town with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. It was held “with an emphasis on the tasks of resolving military-political conflicts in Sudan and Yemen”, as well as “normalizing the situation in and around Syria”, taking into account the “resumption of participation [Сирии] in the activities of the League of Arab States (LAS), the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The membership of Moscow-ally Damascus in the Arab League was restored at the summit of the organization in Saudi Jeddah on May 19, 12 years after the suspension amid the start of the civil war in the country.

On May 28, the Financial Times reported, citing the BRICS New Development Bank, that the organization is having a “qualified dialogue” with Saudi Arabia. The accession of the Saudis to this development bank could be the main, albeit undeclared, topic of negotiations in Cape Town between Lavrov and Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, says Kirill Semyonov, an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council. “We can definitely say that Riyadh wants to connect to the BRICS bank and strengthen relations with this group of countries,” Semenov concluded.