BRICS building strong bridges with Africa

The 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg from Wednesday to Friday is the second one to be hosted by South Africa, which has since earned it the epithet of a "BRICS gateway" to fast-transforming African nations. The theme of this year, "BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the Fourth Industrial Revolution", is also a step forward from that of the 5th BRICS summit in Cape Town in 2013, "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Integration and Industrialization".

This new focus on building "inclusive" and "shared" partnerships using the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" indicates how Africa seeks to build a strong innovative high-technology bond with BRICS and use artificial intelligence and digital-biological-physical links via the internet of things to address the perennial challenges of development.

BRICS' expanding connection with Africa is amply highlighted by President Xi Jinping - who is also the leader of leading BRICS economy - visiting Senegal and Rwanda before arriving in Johannesburg. This will be followed by his stopover in Mauritius on his way back home. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the BRICS summit after paying a visit to Rwanda and Uganda, which is part of his efforts to expand India's relations beyond East African nations.