BRICS foreign ministers meeting opens in South Africa

CAPE TOWN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- BRICS countries kicked off its foreign ministers meeting on Thursday in Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa.

"At today's discussion, we will focus on opportunities to strengthen and transform global governance systems and look forward to solutions to sustainable and inclusive global economic recovery," said Naledi Pandor, South Africa's minister of international relations and cooperation, when hosting the meeting.

"This year's BRICS summit will be held in Johannesburg," Pandor said, noting that the theme of the summit is "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism."

The global geopolitical situation will be discussed throughout the meeting's four sessions, South Africa's BRICS Sherpa Anil Sooklal said at a media briefing ahead of the meeting.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South Africa assumed the BRICS presidency on Jan. 1, 2023, taking over from China.