The Chinese ambassador to South Africa, Chen Xiao Dong, revealed on Friday that "Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with African leaders on the sidelines of the upcoming BRICS summit to enhance Sino-African cooperation in the new era." He mentioned in a statement that "the meeting will take place late Thursday evening, the last day of the three-day summit, which will include events with more than 70 invited countries that are friends of BRICS, a group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa."
Ambassador Chen noted that "Xi and the African leaders will outline a cooperation roadmap to create job opportunities and improve living standards in Africa," and stated, "The initiatives will align with the needs of restructuring and developing Africa's economy."
Xi is scheduled to make an official visit on Tuesday to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria before traveling to Johannesburg for the summit. This will mark Xi's fifth visit to South Africa since he took office in 2013.
Xi's meeting with African leaders will follow a Russian-African summit held last month in St. Petersburg, where Russian President Vladimir Putin met with 17 African leaders who attended the summit out of the 54 African nations invited. It remains unclear how many leaders will attend the BRICS summit taking place from August 22 to 24, but South African officials have stated that they "invited over 70."
