South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that the BRICS group of nations would continue discussions on the practical use of local currencies to facilitate trade and investment flows.

Ramaphosa made the remarks during the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which make up the BRICS group of emerging economies, have gathered in Johannesburg to debate whether to expand the bloc and allow in new members more than a decade after it was formed.

In attendance are South African president and host Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and representing Russia the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

More than 20 countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, have formally applied to join the group.

Addressing the summit, President Xi called for the acceleration of the expansion of BRICS, saying, “We should let more countries join the BRICS family and pool wisdom to make global governance more fair and reasonable.”

Putin told the summit that Moscow would use its chairmanship of BRICS next year to strengthen the group’s role in the world, and would host a summit in the city of Kazan in October 2024.

Speaking by video link to leaders of the group, he also said Russia wanted to end the war, which he said had been “unleashed by the West and its satellites” in Ukraine.

Modi said India fully supports the expansion of BRICS and welcomes moving forward with consensus on this.

For his part, Lula said a common currency used by BRICS countries in commercial transactions would reduce their vulnerabilities.

“The creation of a currency for trade and investment transactions between BRICS members increases our payment options and reduces our vulnerabilities,” he added.

Source: Presstv