A summit of the Brics group of nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is getting under way in Johannesburg.
The Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who’s attending, says it’s an opportunity to step up strategic cooperation and boost the representation of the global south.
More than 20 countries – including Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and Argentina – have applied to join Brics, which is seen as a counterweight to Western influence in international affairs.
President Lula da Silva of Brazil is also attending, as is India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but Vladimir Putin is not – because of an international warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.
Protesters against the Russian war in Ukraine have been gathering in Johannesburg while the summit attracts international attention.