South Africa adds the 'S' to BRICS
South Africa was invited on 23 December 2010 to become a member of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) group of countries when the Chinese president extended an invitation to President Jacob Zuma.
There are other economic groupings, such as the OECD, G20 and G7, so why do we need another? The BRIC group was formed when analysts started talking about countries in similar stages of economic development, with the same challenges, and possible solutions. As a collective, BRICS has the potential to dominate the economy of the world in the next decades. Apart from its members being the most populous (think Brazil and India), its members have the second (China) and seventh (Russia) largest economies. In recent years, India and China have also recorded the highest economic growth rates. For South Africa it is, therefore, of great significance to be included in this grouping.
Providing relevant statistics on these countries is important to ensure that discussions between them, and about them, are based on evidence. Last year a decision was taken that a joint publication would be prepared annually as a compendium of information on the BRICS. Brazil took the lead in the inaugural publication. This year, the Statistical office of China is tasked with delivering the second publication, which will be the first to include South Africa.
To facilitate this, a technical meeting was held from 19 to 21 January 2011 in Beijing, China, where South Africa was represented by Statistician-General Pali Lehohla and Joe de Beer. Discussions centered on eligible indicators to include in the publication, which will consist of 14 chapters. The topics range from information on the population to national accounts, the environment, industry, energy, finance and external trade. Each of the chapters will include a summary, as well as country specific tables where indicators of the country’s choice can be included.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for networking with colleagues from the other BRICS countries to share experiences, challenges and opportunities. It is sometimes comforting to know that we are not the only national statistical office struggling with response rates, user education and the like.
Luckily there was some time to take in the sights of China, but with the cold weather the excursion to the Great Wall of China necessitated the SG to purchase a fancy hat to keep his head warm!
Making a success of our participation will require input from many areas in the organisation. So far work is being done by Feroza Mohideen, Yandiswa Mpetsheni and Martin van Aardt and others will be roped in shortly. We look forward to our turn to chair the BRICS, as Stats SA will then take the lead in developing the joint publication, which will improve each year as we identify new needs from its user community.
Source: Statistic South Africa
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