Brics ministers call for rebalancing of global order away from West

 The group's mission, according to South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, is to provide leadership on a global scale in a world torn apart by geopolitical conflict, inequality, and security threats.

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are together referred to as Brics.

The discussions have been hampered by claims that Russia committed war crimes in Ukraine.

In response to the accusations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest order for Russian President Vladimir Putin; as a party to the court, South Africa would be required to detain him if he shows up for the Brics summit planned for Johannesburg in August.

Some see the Brics as a rival to the G7, a group of industrialized nations that met annually in the Japanese city of Hiroshima last month and that also included the presidents of Brazil and India. G7 members have harshly criticized China and Russia.

More over 3.2 billion people live in the BRICS countries collectively, or about 40% of the world's 8 billion inhabitants.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs for India, stated that the conference must "send out a strong message that the world is multipolar, that it is rebalancing, and that old ways cannot address new situations" on the first of the two days of talks in Cape Town.

Economic concentration, which places too many nations at the hands of too few, is at the root of the issues we confront, he claimed.

The Brics are "an indispensable mechanism for building a multipolar world order that reflects the devices and needs of developing countries," according to Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

The Brics organization might be enlarged to offer support to underdeveloped nations and emerging market economies, according to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.

According to Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, "more than a dozen" nations, including Saudi Arabia, have expressed interest in joining the alliance.

Protesters brandished an image of Mr. Lavrov with the words "child murderer" in response to his appearance at the ceremony.

One demonstrator expressed difficulty with South African officials "shaking the hand of a person who is part of these systemic war crimes against Ukrainian children" to the AFP news agency, making reference to the ICC prosecution against Mr. Putin.

Since 1994, when white minorities ruled South Africa, the country's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has maintained close connections with Russia, and it has refrained from condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

This week, a deputy minister informed the BBC that the nation intended to amend its laws to give it the authority to determine whether or not to detain a leader sought by the ICC.

 Dr. Pandor was questioned about whether Mr. Putin would be detained if he attended the meeting in August by BBC journalist Andrew Harding at a news conference.

"The president [Cyril Ramaphosa] will indicate what the final position in South Africa is," she retorted.

Moving the summit to another nation is reportedly being considered after a senior official privately described the scenario as a diplomatic nightmare from which the South African administration was desperately trying to escape.