BEIJING - China has invited South Africa to become the fifth member of the informal group of major developing economies that also includes Brazil, India and Russia, its foreign ministry said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi telephoned his South African counterpart, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to relay the news that the Bric group had agreed to include South Africa in future meetings, the ministry said on its website.
The ministry said President Hu Jintao had sent a formal letter of invitation to President Jacob Zuma via the South African ambassador in Beijing.
Yang was quoted as saying that China believed South Africa's participation would "promote the development of Bric and enhance the cooperation of emerging market economies". China holds the rotating chairmanship of the group, which held its first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June last year.
Zuma visited all four Bric nations this year.
Bric economies invite SA to join
BEIJING - China has invited South Africa to become the fifth member of the informal group of major developing economies that also includes Brazil, India and Russia, its foreign ministry said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi telephoned his South African counterpart, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to relay the news that the Bric group had agreed to include South Africa in future meetings, the ministry said on its website.
The ministry said President Hu Jintao had sent a formal letter of invitation to President Jacob Zuma via the South African ambassador in Beijing.
Yang was quoted as saying that China believed South Africa's participation would "promote the development of Bric and enhance the cooperation of emerging market economies". China holds the rotating chairmanship of the group, which held its first summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June last year.
Zuma visited all four Bric nations this year.
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