President Jacob Zuma and a delegation of cabinet ministers are in Ufa, Russia were they will participate in the 7th BRICS Summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the two-day meeting of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South African (BRICS) leaders from Wednesday.

According to the Presidency, a number of meetings will be held in the run up to the summit, including the BRICS Business Council and its Working Groups; the BRICS ministers of finance and Central Bank Governors, the first meeting of the BRICS Board of Governors of the New Development Bank and the BRICS ministers of trade and industry.

BRICS leaders had, at the G20 Summit in Brisbane on 15 November 2014, requested their finance ministers to designate the President and Vice-Presidents of the New Development Bank, in advance of the next summit.

They are expected to receive feedback in this regard.

“The leaders also tasked the finance ministers and Central Bank Governors with ensuring that, by this summit, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) Working Group concludes the procedural rules and operational guidelines of the Governing Council and Standing Committee of the CRA, and to conclude an Inter-Central Bank Agreement,” said the Presidency.

The leaders will also be informed of the status of ratification process within each BRICS country of the New Development Bank Agreement and CRA Treaty.

The first meeting of the Board of Governors of the New Development Bank will take place in Moscow on Tuesday and the Board is expected to report to the BRICS leaders on the steps taken to operationalise the bank.

The summit will see the adoption of the Ufa Declaration and the Ufa Action Plan, which will reflect the views of BRICS member states on a number of international issues.

The leaders will also witness the signing of various agreements which indicate a deepening of the BRICS relationship.

President Putin has arranged a meeting between the BRICS leaders and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and other invited Leaders.

This is in keeping with the tradition of an “outreach meeting” initiated by South Africa when it hosted the Fifth BRICS Summit.