APRNEWS- Emmanuel Macron will not be at the BRICS summit that South Africa will organize in a few days. Contrary to his wishes, the French President was not invited.

APRNEWS- Emmanuel Macron will not participate in the BRICS summit scheduled to be held from August 22 to 24, 2023, in Johannesburg.

Giving an update on preparations for the event on Monday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said a total of 67 leaders from Africa and other southern countries are expected in Johannesburg. . The organizers therefore did not invite the French President.

A few weeks ago, Emmanuel Macron had, in fact, expressed the desire to see France present at the summit as an observer. In this sense, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, on a visit to South Africa last June, had tried to persuade her South African counterpart. "We have to talk to understand each other and to find solutions," insisted the Frenchwoman facing Naledi Pandor.

But the leaders of the BRICS were not moved by the words of the head of French diplomacy. They preferred to side with the position of Russia which, from the outset, had considered that such an invitation would be “inappropriate”. The reason put forward to justify such a position concerns France's support for Ukraine in the war between it and Russia and its membership of NATO.

It should be remembered that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, will be the only leader of one of the five countries of the group who will not travel physically. Threatened by an international arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC, the master of the Kremlin will virtually follow the work and will be represented on site by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov.

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