Thank you, Chair. Congratulations, hon Minister, on the excellent work done by you and your department to bring Prof Karabus safely back to South Africa. South Africa may be the small fish in the Brics pond compared to India or China, but Brics represents rising powers from the different regions of the world. We do hold our own in Africa, although commentators say that ultimately the "S" in Brics should stand for the Southern African Development Community, SADC.
If we were to align our region with our Brics membership, it would represent a regional market of 273 million people, I believe, giving greater credibility from a market size perspective and a far greater negotiating influence. With other nations being considered for membership, the acronym Brics is expected, they say, to give way to the letter "E" for emerging nations - becoming the E6 or the E8. If this became the case, South Africa could only benefit from its early participation in this grouping.
With South Africa hosting the Brics summit next week in Durban, local players are hoping to see mining on the agenda. South Africa is a mining hub and, curiously, this has not yet been prioritised, even though all Brics nations are heavily engaged in mining.
The ACDP would like to see Brics discussions focusing on trade and investment barriers that inhibit business among participants, focusing on the barriers that matter and that are relatively easy to deal with, such as visas and customs procedures, etc. Of course, Brics needs to focus strongly on the facilitation of trade and use its influence to cut trade and investment deals that benefit the people that they represent. We also think that there is a need for Brics partners to be raising awareness of opportunities in their respective business communities. South Africa's strength will depend on a team approach including government, the business community, think-tanks and civil society, which we agree is the only way for South Africa to maximise the potential of Brics. What we actually bring to the table as South Africa is, however, the bottom line. And if we do not bring finances and entrepreneurial skills, we will not realise the potential that there is for us in this Brics partnership.
Brics is still very young, and how it levers resources and opportunities will be watched closely. The proposed developmental bank, which would finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects across Brics nations and other developing countries, is an interesting example. The World Bank has welcomed the idea and is said to be looking for a strong working relationship. South African analysts caution that Brics must ensure that the bank is being established for the right reasons and not just to poke a finger in the World Bank's eye.
Private-sector representatives in the meantime are hoping that Brics might consider establishing a commercial bank, not only for development and infrastructure, but also for commercial projects through which participants will be able to trade.
Lastly, the proposal to pool the foreign exchange reserves of the five Brics member countries to support one another in times of balance of payments or currency crises looks interesting for South Africa. I thank you and wish you all the best. [Time expired.] [Applause.]