PRETORIA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The just ended 10th BRICS summit was a great success with many agreements and memorandum of understanding (MoU) being signed, said a South African government official.
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu said this while briefing the media in Pretoria on Thursday. South Africa hosted the 10th BRICS summit on July 25-27 in Johannesburg.
"We meet soon after the conclusion of the very successful and historic 10th BRICS Summit... Through the summit, we were able to showcase the treasure of this country, which is its people, who are both welcoming and professional in their dealings with our friends from other countries," said Sisulu.
She mentioned that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted his BRICS counterparts, BRICS Plus and African leaders. BRICS leaders addressed issues affecting the bloc and the globe.
"It was a very important summit and took place against the onslaught against multilateralism and some countries withdrawing from long standing commitments. The Summit was an occasion for the BRICS leaders to be at the center of shaping a new global order and centralizing a new world order with the United Nations at the apex," said the minister.
She stated that some memorandums of understanding were signed by all five BRICS countries. These include MoU on environment and BRICS regional aviation partnership. They also signed agreement for establishment of the regional office of the New Development Bank (NDB) for the Americas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
"BRICS leaders supported the establishment of the BRICS networks of science parks, technology business incubators and small and medium-sized enterprises," Sisulu said.
The BRICS leaders also endorsed the establishment of the BRICS tourism working group to increase economic development and people-to-people relations to further grow intra-BRICS tourism. They also agreed to establish the BRICS working group on the 4th industrial revolution.
"This aims at deepening BRICS cooperation in digitalization, industrialization, innovation, inclusiveness, and investment, to maximize the opportunities and address the challenges arising from the 4th Industrial Revolution."
