BRICS/Africa Meeting: India Underlines Unilateral Nature of South Africa’s Invitations

A statement issued by the Indian government has confirmed that the invitations sent by South Africa for the BRICS/Africa meeting, scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg, are unilateral and national in nature. The statement said that Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was expected in South Africa on August 22-24 to take part in the 15th BRICS Summit, and that he would also attend the BRICS/Africa meeting, which included other participants “invited by South Africa.” An authorized source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates had already said that this was a “meeting organized on the basis of a unilateral initiative by the South African government.” The same source had stressed that for the Kingdom of Morocco, there had never been any question of responding positively to the invitation to the “BRICS/Africa” meeting at any level whatsoever.