Egypt President Mohamed Morsi called Wednesday on African presidents and leaders to embrace developmental programmes that benefit their peoples.
Morsi said at the fifth BRICS Summit that sustainable development in Africa cannot be achieved without using African resources and becoming self-reliant.
“Our continent is capable of achieving progress, prosperity and development through its capabilities and potentials,” Morsi said.
BRICS is a group of powerhouse developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The group’s fifth summit is being held in South Africa’s capital Johannesberg.
Morsi’s South Africa visit comes after participating in the opening of the Arab League Summit in Qatar.
In interview with an Indian newspaper mid-March, President Morsi said he hopes Egypt will join the BRICS group, potentially renamed “E-BRICS,” where “E stands for Egypt,” according to Morsi.
BRICS nations are gathered in an attempt to push up growth rates in their emerging markets after a slowdown during the last two years due to stagnation in developed countries, in particular the Eurozone.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts gross domestic product growth of 5.5 percent in the emerging markets in 2013, barely higher than 2012’s estimated 5.1 percent.
Earlier in June 2012’s presidential elections in Egypt, Mohamed Morsi introduced the “Renaissance Project” as his electoral platform. The project was presented to voters as a comprehensive solution to Egypt’s misfortunes.
As part of the implementation of the project, President Morsi promised major reforms in five key areas (traffic, garbage collection, bread, security and fuel) to be fulfilled in his first 100 days in office. The president has fallen under increasing criticism for not fulfilling his promises as the 100-day period elapsed.
Ahram
