Díaz-Canel affirmed that Cuba feels that it has Photo: Estudios Revolución
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, held meetings and greeted several leaders attending the 15th BRICS Summit, according to a tweet of the Presidency.
 
The Cuban President met with Chinese Head of State Xi Jinping, who expressed that this meeting gives continuity to the state visit of Díaz-Canel to his country. "It is a pleasure to meet with you again, my friend," Xi Jiping said at the beginning of the dialogue.
 
The Chinese Head of State then referred to the Cuban leader's stay in Beijing last year, when broad consensus on the deepening of relations between China and Cuba in the new era was reached, he said."We agreed to work together to build the community of shared future," he said.
 
Under the new circumstances, he said, "China will work together with Cuba to deepen mutual political trust, expand practical cooperation and strengthen strategic collaboration, with a view to promoting the development of special friendly relations between the two countries and parties."
 
Díaz-Canel later said to the press that "it is a satisfaction to have met" and asserted that he keeps "pleasant memories of the successful visit to China in November last year." The consensus reached by both parties at the time now marks the road map for our bilateral relations, he stressed.
 
Díaz-Canel conveyed to his counterpart "an affectionate greeting from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz", and insisted on "the importance and significance of your forthcoming visit to our country, for all the admiration for your work there is among the Cuban people, among Cuban leaders, and for what it would mean for bilateral relations."
 
During a pause of the BRICS sessions, the Cuban leader also spoke with the President of the Comoros and the African Union, Azali Assoumani, "about the relations between both countries, also united by the links with Africa."
 
The Caribbean Head of State reiterated the invitation to the G-77 Summit to be held next month in Havana.
 
He also exchanged with former Brazilian president and president of the BRICS Bank, Dilma Rousseff, about "the possibility of carrying out joint projects."
 
Díaz-Canel also met with the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to whom he thanked for the credits granted by that country, one of the members of the entity, to develop renewable energies and rice cultivation.
 
GLOBAL SOUTH: A MULTILATERAL AND INCLUSIVE PATH
 
At the end of three days of work, the 15th Summit of the BRICS countries concluded in Johannesburg, which can catalyze, sooner rather than later, the longed-for but elusive path to reach the multilateral and inclusive world that humanity and the planet need so much, because the environmental dimension is intrinsic to any future, starting with the nearest one, an essential issue that is also an essential principle for this group.
 
In the room set aside for press conferences at the Sandton Convention Center, where the meeting was held, the leaders of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - presented the Final Declaration and summarized the results of the meeting.
 
The most important of the agreements was the expected announcement of the enlargement of the group, which as from January 1, 2024 will also include Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran.
 
At present, the BRICS account for 30% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 42% of the world's population. As of next year, their GDP will exceed 36% and their population will approach 44%.
 
The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, welcomed the enlargement. His Chinese colleague, Xi Jinping, pointed out that it was a historic decision: it is another sign of the Brics' decision to unite and cooperate, but now in a wider circle of developing countries, he said. This determination responds to the expectations of the international community and the common interests of emerging markets, he added.
 
For Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the fact that so many countries (more than twenty), including those that will join now, are expressing their interest in joining the BRICS, demonstrates the relevance of this concert of nations.
 
"Our diversity reinforces the struggle for a new order that accommodates economic, geographic and political plurality in the 21st century," Lula defined.
 
In addition to the consensus among the five original BRICS to enlarge the group, its leaders made progress in the criteria for establishing a common currency and other links in the areas of economy, international trade -in which they favor the use of national currencies-, politics, environment, among others.
 
From a symbolic point of view, the great interest generated by this 15th BRICS Summit, to which more than 60 heads of state and government of the so-called Global South were invited, did not go unnoticed by the world either.
 
In the Final Declaration of more than 26 pages, the Brics highlighted, among many other postulates and positions, the defense of multilateralism by the BRICS, and expressed their concern about the use of unilateral coercive measures, which -they insisted- are incompatible with the principles of the United Nations Charter and produce negative effects, especially in the developing world.