S Africa ready to host 5th BRICS summit

South Africa's preparations to host the 5th BRICS summit scheduled in March 2013 are now at an advanced stage, a government official announced on Tuesday. Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa Ebrahim Ebrahim disclosed the information in a media briefing in the administrative capital of Pretoria. The new summit will be held on March 26-27, 2013 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province. It will be attended by the five BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. He said the South African government is doing all it can to make sure that the summit is a resounding success. "The cabinet meeting held on Sept.19, 2012 approved the BRICS strategy for South Africa. It also activated the structures that will oversee preparations for South African President Zuma's hosting of the 5th BRICS summit,"the deputy minister said. A BRICS inter-ministerial committee (IMC) has been set up to advice cabinet on policy requirements around the hosting of the summit.And the IMC will oversee the implementation of all the necessary measures to ensure a successful summit. Two BRICS inter-departmental teams have been appointed to take care of both the technical and logistical requirements of the summit. The deputy minister said that there would be a variety of meetings taking place on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. "The meeting of BRICS trade ministers will take place on the day prior to the summit as well that of the BRICS business forum,"he said. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will host its partners in the BRICS inter-bank cooperation mechanism for their annual forum meeting on that day. A robust discussion is expected around the establishment of the proposed BRICS development bank."The BRICS leaders have tasked their finance ministers to prepare a feasibility study on the proposed development bank by the 5th summit. The technical experts of the BRICS countries have already held its first meeting in this regard, and a second meeting will take place in the near future to prepare this study,"the deputy minister said. The last BRICS summit was held in the Indian capital of New Delhi in March.