It is the II Summit of the IBSA group
Brazil, India, and South Africa are participating tomorrow, Wednesday, in a summit that seeks to consolidate a group created four years ago and that wants to become the most important voice to assert the role of the nations of the south in the global context.
The summit, the second of the group called IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa), will be attended by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; and the host head of state, Thabo Mbeki.
"The united voices of these three countries cannot be ignored when discussing global issues," said Jerry Matjila, Deputy Director General for Asia at the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighting the role of this group.
The IBSA group was created in June 2003 as a tool for economic and political cooperation, and its first summit was held last year in Brasilia. Ministerial contacts are very frequent, and the aim is to foster trilateral dialogue.
The three nations have a combined population of 1.300 billion and a gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly $2 trillion. Brazil has the largest economy, with a GDP of $882.000 billion, followed by India with $806.000 billion.
“Statistics indicate that they are the major players in their subregions,” Matjila maintains. “This represents a critical mass for us to engage in global debate and dialogue,” the official added, outlining the diplomatic group’s objectives.
The initiative to bring together the most prominent voices of the Southern Hemisphere began, according to the Pretoria government, with the efforts made by Mbeki in 1999 and 2000 to form a group that would be an alternative to the Group of Eight.
Mbeki extended his invitation to Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, and Nigeria, but, according to Matjila, it was ultimately decided that the collective would begin with the efforts of Brazilians, South Africans, and Indians.
The process materialized in 2003 and the first Brazil Summit "was a launch event," with the idea that this second one would serve "to adopt more tangible results," according to Matjila.
"The project has become something that many developing countries have begun to envy," the South African official maintains.
"What these three countries have in common," he added, "is their vibrant democracies, their shared views on global issues, and the fact that they are important players in their respective regional economies."
The summit that begins tomorrow has been preceded by a series of debates that have taken place since last Sunday at a convention center in Johannesburg, attended by almost a thousand representatives from the three countries.
Topics such as business, parliamentary cooperation, technology, shipping and energy are among the topics discussed, and the conclusions will be presented tomorrow to Lula, Singh and Mbeki.
The three southern leaders are also expected to discuss issues related to the international agenda, such as reforms in UN institutions, the Doha trade round, and the UN Millennium Development Goals.
But the agenda also includes issues more specific to the three nations, such as the possibility of creating a "maritime highway" from India to Brazil, with South Africa as the central hub.
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