BRICS can redress global imbalances -- experts

JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Global South, with BRICS' inclusiveness, can speak in one voice and redress the global imbalances that have long been plaguing the world, experts have said.

"BRICS Plus is probably much more inclusive and its inclusivity does not ostracize or eliminate people because of certain political values," Farhana Paruk, a professor at Gordon Institute of Business Science of the University of Pretoria, told Xinhua in an interview.

At the just-concluded 15th BRICS Summit, six countries, namely Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), were officially invited to join BRICS.

Paruk noted that BRICS brings countries from different parts of the world together despite their diversity.

"There are different languages and cultures and ways of doing things in BRICS. It is that diversity that brings new ways of thinking, new ways of looking at the world and that is something we are looking forward to in 2023," she said.

BRICS offers an opportunity for countries wanting to improve the current international trading system and the global financial regime undermining small and weaker developing economies, Yusuf Dodia, chairperson of the Private Sector Development Association, told Xinhua.

"We see an opportunity for the world to find ... a more equitable way of co-existing, a way that will allow small nations to flourish," Dodia said.

He believes that BRICS has the potential to address imbalances in the world where there is a need for countries to push for an equitable global system.

Such a transformation is mutually beneficial, according to Mahasha Rampedi, editor-in-chief of the African Times. "Africans trust China far more than Western nations, and to be honest, I don't think it's just the Africans."

The Global South thus feels more secure now with BRICS and China playing an increasingly prominent role on the world stage. "Regardless of how big or small a country is, once you are in partnership with China, you are treated as equal," Rampedi said.