August 21, (THEWILL) – Vice President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja for Johannesburg, South Africa, to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 15th BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government.
A statement issued on Monday, by Olusola Abiola, Director of Information at the Vice President’s office, said Shettima will join other business and political leaders across the world at the Summit, scheduled for the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, from August 22 to 24.
Notable leaders expected to attend the event include South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa; President Xi Jinping of China; Brazil’s President, Luiz Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
73 dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the chairperson of the African Union Commission and President of the New Development Bank, have also been invited.
The summit is expected to deliberate on issues on trade and investment facilitation, sustainable development, innovation and global governance reform.
It will also continue its outreach to Leaders from Africa and the global South; as it focuses on global geopolitics, trade and infrastructure development.
BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of five major emerging and developing economies.
The BRICS group accounts for more than 42% of the world population, 30% of the world’s territory, 23% of the global economy and 18% of global trade. One of its founding values is shared commitment to restructure the global political, economic and financial architecture to be fair, balanced and representative resting on pillars of multilateralism and international law.
The Vice President was accompanied on the trip by some senior government officials.
He is expected back in the country at the end of the week.
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