South Africa Hopes Naval Exercises with Russia and China Become Annual
A South African flag banner on the side of an apartment block in the city of Cape Town, South Africa, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016
InternationalIndiaAfricaSouth Africa is the continent’s most industrialized country and has the most diversified economy in Africa. The nation joined the BRIC bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China) in 2010, after which the organization changed its name to BRICS.The three-sided naval exercises involving China, Russia, and South Africa, which will take place on February 17-24 near the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have “all chances” of taking place again in 2024, says Mzuvukile Maqetuka, South African ambassador to Moscow, in an interview with Sputnik.
"Looking at the track record already now from 2019, it is an ongoing annual event. And I am expecting that all chances are that even in 2024 there will be another exercise," the South African ambassador notes.
According to him, South Africa perceives “the reaction of other countries as part of the democratic process” against the backdrop of US criticism of Pretoria’s cooperation with Russia. It is important what goal South Africa sets for itself when deciding to participate in the exercises, the ambassador says.Cooperation between South Africa, Russia, and China also takes place within the BRICS bloc. On January 1, South Africa took over the BRICS chairship from China and will host this year’s bloc events.According to the ambassador, his country is choosing between Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Pretoria when it comes to which city will host the BRICS summit. All the partner countries’ presidents will be invited to the event, which is the first to be held offline since 2019, Maqetuka says.
"All presidents will be invited, it is standard practice … It will depend on President Putin and the Kremlin [whether he will participate], but an invitation would definitely be sent, it is expected," he says.
He notes that BRICS expansion will be South Africa’s priority as the 2023 chair. According to the ambassador, his country is planning to address the issue of developing mechanisms which will allow the inclusion of new members. Maqetuka underlines that decisions concerning the expansion of the group will be made by consensus, just like every other BRICS decision.He says that some 13 countries are expected to join the bloc, with Egypt and Algeria being the ones from Africa. Only six countries have applied officially, he notes.According to Maqetuka, South Africa does not make unilateral decisions and always consults with its neighbors in the region. Therefore, even in BRICS, the country’s activities will be dedicated to sustainable growth and development, as well as interaction on international platforms, he adds, highlighting the introduction of African countries as permanent UN Security Council members and the introduction of the African Union to the G20 as South Africa’s priorities.UN Security Council reform has been supported by numerous countries, including Russia and the US, although there is still no agreement on how it should be implemented.This year will be marked by a major event within the framework of cooperation between South Africa and Russia – the second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, which will take place from July 26 to 29 in Saint Petersburg. The meeting is a follow-up to the first one, which was held in 2019 in Sochi.The South African ambassador says that his country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has accepted the invitation to the 2023 summit. Maqetuka also notes that along with other African ambassadors, he participated in a briefing led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov concerning the summit, and is planning to take part in the forthcoming preparatory events.Maqetuka also highlights several fields of potential development of cooperation between his country and Russia. According to him, South African state oil company PetroSA is planning investment negotiations with its Russian counterpart Gazprom. Russian hydroelectricity corporation RusHydro is also considering investment in the South African energy sector, Maqetuka says.The South African Embassy in Russia is also planning to take part in negotiations with representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) – the executive body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – on the topic of agriculture and cooperation between South Africa and the EEC.
"We look forward to this partnership [with the EAEU] … First, it is the partnership, market access. We are talking about the yuan market access here," Maqetuka says, adding that South Africa will advocate strongly for partnership with the EAEU.
According to the diplomat, Russia is his country’s main partner within the EAEU. He notes that South Africa is gradually solving logistical problems in terms of fruit export to Russia and is “proud” to rank seventh in terms of wine supplies in the Russian market.Maqetuka touches the subject of expansion of transport connection between Russia and South Africa, noting that there were plans to launch direct passenger flights to Cape Town by Russia’s Nordwind airline in February 2022, but later “everything was paused.” The ambassador says he “awaits news from the Russian side” on the matter.Another sphere of Russian-South African cooperation highlighted by Maqetuka is mining, namely of gold and diamonds. He also calls for the development of cooperation in the sphere of finance, noting that South Africa is proud of its banking system and that he “does not know” why Russia is “afraid” of developing partnership in this sector.Commenting on EU top diplomat Josep Borrell’s claims that Africans participating in pro-Russian demonstrations “do not know where the Donbass is and who President Vladimir Putin is,” Maqetuka notes that he doubts that “there is even one child in South Africa who doesn’t know who Putin is.”Earlier, Kenyan Ambassador to Russia Benson Ogutu told Sputnik that Kenyans “knew where Russia is” and “had no problem with that.” He also said that his country is open for cooperation with Russia.
