Furthermore, Bric could not afford to ignore the potential market of a billion people. They could not afford to ignore a continent with the richest known deposits of natural resources. Yes, they could not ignore vast tracts of land good for both agriculture and habitation.
South Africa has always understood that its place and role within Brics is, among others, to be the voice for the African agenda of development, peace and security. South Africa understood that the Brics countries would always find their way directly into the African continent but it felt it was important that it must use the collective power and influence of Brics to favour both its own agenda and that of the continent.
The original Brics countries saw great value in partnering with a South Africa that has the most advanced infrastructure network on the continent including banking, ICT, railroads, airlines, etc. It is that kind of infrastructure that Brics needs to platform its investments onto the rest of the continent.
It is for that reason that Brics today is studying the possibility of setting up the Brics development bank to mobilise resources for infrastructure development. South Africa has lobbied for the establishment of such a bank and hopes that the existence of the advanced banking infrastructure in South Africa can provide a good platform for such a project.
Everybody keeps on telling us that Africa is the next Big Thing waiting to happen. Indeed the signs are there. The challenge on us as a collective in the continent is to capture the moment. It is my view that the emergence of Brics holds the huge potential for exploitation by us to meet some of the goals of the African Agenda.
(This is an edited version of the speech presented at the ICT CONVENTION 2012 at Harare International Conference Centre on June 21 2012 by SA ambassador to Zimbabwe)
