Shettima To Stand In For Tinubu At High Power BRICS Summit

Vice President Kashim Shettima departs Nigeria today, August 20, 2023, to represent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 15th BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government.

BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of five major emerging and developing economies. 

The gathering is scheduled for the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg from August 22 to 24, 2023.

The summit is expected to deliberate on issues on trade and investment facilitation, sustainable development, innovation, and global governance reform a statement issued by Olusola Abiola, the Director of Information at the office of the Vice President revealed.

Seventy-three dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the President of the New Development Bank have also been invited.

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.

Vice President Shettima is accompanied on the trip to the summit, which will also continue its outreach to Leaders from Africa and the global South; as it focuses on global geopolitics, trade and infrastructure development, by some senior government officials according to the information shared by the Director of Information.

 He is expected back in the country at the end of the week.

The BRICS group, holding its 15th summit in South Africa, 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 statement by Olusola Abiola added.