The 2023 BRICS SUMMIT

Introduction
Host Country – South Africa
City – Johannesburg
Venue – Sandton Convention Centre
The 2023 BRICS summit was the fifteenth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference
attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member
states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also
invited the leaders of 67 countries to the summit.
BRICS Expansion
Several countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group.[5] At the summit, South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates have been invited to join the bloc. Full membership will take effect on 1 January
2024.
Participation of Vladimir Putin
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian
President Vladimir Putin for war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. South Africa is required
as an ICC signatory to honour the warrant.
In May 2023, South Africa government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), granted all invited
leaders diplomatic immunity. It was unclear whether this would prevent Putin from being arrested if he
attended. According to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, it was standard
practice in South Africa to confer such immunity to attendees of international conferences held in the
country.
By early June 2023, moving the summit to China was being considered to avoid the issue. In mid-July
2023, Vladimir Putin announced that he would not attend the summit "by mutual agreement" and
would instead be sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

(From L-R: Sergei Lavrov - Russia (representing Vladimir Putin), Xi Jinping - China, Cyril Ramaphosa –
South Africa, Narendra Modi - India and Lula Da Silva - Brazil)
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