CAPE TOWN
\nSouth Africa attempted to shift attention away from its stance on the Ukraine conflict on Friday, as it hosted a BRICS meeting overshadowed by questions about a possible visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\nTop diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in Cape Town for a second day of talks on the bloc\u2019s ambition to provide an alternative to a western-led global order.
\nHowever the question of whether Putin would attend a subsequent gathering of the bloc in August, having been invited before an ICC arrest warrant was issued, has dominated this week\u2019s meeting.
\nPutin is wanted by the International Criminal Court over accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
\nA member of the ICC with strong trade and economic relations with the United States and Europe, South Africa would be expected to arrest him if he sets foot in the country.
\nThe issue has put Pretoria in a tight diplomatic spot, and ministers largely dodged a barrage of questions about Putin during the first day of discussions.
\nOn Friday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor sought to shift focus away from Putin and the war in Ukraine.
\n\u201cAs countries gathered in this room today… we all represent together a significant majority of the world\u2019s territory, population and economy,\u201d Pandor said.
\nRepresentatives of about a dozen other nations, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Kazakhstan, attended in person or virtually, for a \u201cFriends of BRICS\u201d session.
\nOn Thursday, BRICS ministers welcomed what they said was the interest expressed by numerous countries to join the bloc.
\n\u201cWe in this room need to determine a plan of action for our countries and for the world,\u201d Pandor said in opening remarks on Friday.
\n\u201cWe cannot allow a conflict in one part of the world to replace the ambition of eradicating global poverty as the world\u2019s greatest global challenge,\u201d she added, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.
\nRussia\u2019s invasion of its neighbor has sent food and energy prices soaring in much of the world, exacerbating food insecurity in poor countries.
\nPandor took a swing at western nations, saying the world has \u201cfaltered in cooperation\u201d since rich countries\u2019 \u201cattention and resources\u201d have been \u201cdiverted\u201d by the war.
\n\u201cThe plight of the poor is forgotten and the great powers are engaged in world conflict,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to turn this around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CAPE TOWN South Africa attempted to shift attention away from its stance on the Ukraine conflict on Friday, as it hosted a BRICS meeting overshadowed by questions about a possible visit to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Top diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in Cape Town for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-335066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n