BRICS is growing both in terms of member nations and co-operation between them.
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were officially announced as full members of BRICS from 1 January 2024.
Existing member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also committed to strengthening skills exchanges and co-operation among the BRICS family.
These were some of the highlights of the declaration adopted on Thursday, 24 August, as the BRICS summit closed at the Sandton Convention Centre in Joburg.
"We reaffirm our commitment to the BRICS spirit of mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, strengthened collaboration and consensus," read the declaration.
"As we build upon 15 years of BRICS summits, we further commit ourselves to strengthening the framework of mutually beneficial BRICS cooperation under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people co-operation, and to enhancing our strategic partnership for the benefit of our people through the promotion of peace, a more representative, fairer international order, a reinvigorated and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth."
ALSO READ | SunPower: Maspala responds to residents' cries!Opens in new window
The declaration supported digital transformation in education and the technical and vocational education and training space. Each BRICS country was committed to ensure education accessibility and equity and promoting the development of quality education.
"We agree to explore opportunities on BRICS digital education co-operative mechanisms, hold dialogues on digital education policies, share digital educational resources, build smart education systems, and jointly promote digital transformation of education in BRICS countries and to develop a sustainable education by strengthening the cooperation within BRICS Network University and other institution-to-institution initiatives in this area, including the BRICS University League," read the declaration.
The leaders also called for greater representation of emerging markets and developing countries in international organisations and multilateral forums.
"We also call for increasing the role and share of women from emerging markets and developing countries at different levels of responsibilities in the international organisations," the document said.
The summit agreed to address the challenges posed by climate change and appealed to developed countries to lead by example and support developing countries in this process.
The leaders also noted the "unbalanced recovery from the shock and hardship of the (Covid-19) pandemic" and said it was worsening inequality across the world.
They tasked their finance ministers and central bank governors to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back by the next summit.
The declaration also said it was concerned about ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world.
"We stress our commitment to the peaceful resolution of differences and disputes through dialogue and inclusive consultations in a coordinated and cooperative manner and support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises," adde the declaration.
