President Edgar Lungu will be travelling again to South Africa to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, slated for July 26-27, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a statement, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji announced that President Lungu would be among regional Heads of State attending the BRICS summit.

BRICS is the acronym for an economic association of five major emerging national economies namely; Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“The President is travelling to this important meeting in response to an official invitation to attend the BRICS Africa Outreach Programme by the in-coming Chairperson of BRICS and the summit’s host, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa,” read a statement issued by the Press and Public Relations Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lusaka, Wednesday.

According to the statement, President Lungu will hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, among others, on the side-lines of the summit.

“The five BRICS countries represent over 3.1 billion people, or about 41 per cent of the world population. They have a combined GDP of around US $40.55 trillion and an estimated US $4.46 trillion in combined foreign reserves. The BRICS Africa Outreach Summit with African leaders seeks to ensure continuity from the 5th BRICS Summit held in Durban, South Africa, in 2013 and to provide BRICS’ support for African industrialization and infrastructure development The sub-theme for the BRICS-AFRICA Outreach: BRICS in Africa: “Working towards the realization of the African Aspirations,” read the statement.

“Among the African Heads of States invited to attend the BRICS-Africa Outreach Dialogue are: Zambia – as incoming Chair of the SADC Organ on Defence, Politics; Rwanda – as Chair of the African Union (AU); among several others who also include Namibia – as incoming Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).”