Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa: BRICS Energy Ministerial Meeting

Opening remarks and intervention by the Honourable Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, on the occasion of the 9th BRICS Energy Ministerial Meeting in Moscow, Russia

Let me take this opportunity to thank you, your excellency, Minister Mr. Sergie Tsivilev, the Chair of the 9th Annual BRICS Energy Ministerial Meeting, for inviting us to be part of this important BRICS meeting. This meeting comes at a critical phase where our countries are grappling with the challenge of balancing developmental goals with energy transition pathways. We must ensure that these transitions safeguard energy sovereignty and security, promote sustainable economic development, facilitate universal access and respond effectively to environmental imperatives, all the while ensuring no one is left behind.

Allow me chair also to express our gratitude to the Russian government for the warm welcome and hospitality that was accorded to me and my delegation since our arrival here in Moscow.

We further take this moment to congratulate the Russian Federation on being the first host of the extended BRICS family and join you in welcoming the other fellow Energy Ministers from extended BRICS member countries to this inaugural Energy Ministerial Meeting of extended BRICS.

Chair and honourable Ministers, I believe you will agree that the expansion of BRICS membership is a clear affirmation of the group's growing significance and influence in global energy agenda. This is a pivotal moment, positioning BRICS to reshape, refocus, and reset the global energy architecture to ensure energy access, security, affordability and eradicate energy poverty and promote a just energy transition.

For us as South Africa, we see this as an opportune moment to clearly articulate our collective position as the developing nations that will enable us to continue to use our energy resources through innovative technologies that allow us to move from high emitting to low emitting energy systems and thus achieve carbon-neutrality or net-zero at a pace and scale that is in line with our different national circumstances and capabilities.

In this regard, we want to reiterate that our approach to an inclusive and people centred energy transition is informed by the need to maintain energy security in support of socio-economic objectives.

To this effect, we want to urge BRICS member countries to tap and dig deeper into our various capabilities and strengths to ensure that we support each other in harnessing the individual potential we have at our disposal. To mention a few opportunities, it is mining, and beneficiation of critical minerals and rare-earth elements required to power the green economy, expanse hydro power potential, promising hydrogen solutions and
its derivatives, gas, nuclear (including small modular reactors), renewables, storage, biofuels, as well as clean coal (including carbon capture utilisation and storage).

We believe that this BRICS group of like-minded country members has a huge potential and working together will strengthen this resolve through cooperation on energy security, and also provide an opportunity to join efforts to annihilate the challenges diagnosed during BRICS 2023 Summit held in South Africa such as addressing lack or absence of integrated energy policy framework, diversification and beneficiation at source of critical minerals, infrastructure development, manufacturing, technology transfer and intellectual property, scaling up energy efficiency, mobilization finance and investment, as well as skills and capacity building amongst others.

Chair, we are raising all these potential opportunities for we are certain that it is not an act of random accident that the Russian Federation is hosting BRICS at the same year as Brazil is hosting the G20, which will be followed by the hosting in 2025 of the G20 in my own country South Africa and Brazil hosting both BRICS and COP in the same year. We should use this platform to propagate our world outlook of a commonly shared perspective as developing countries.

Allow me as I conclude chair, to wish the BRICS presidency a successful Energy Ministerial meeting and assure South Africa’s support and commitment to the outcome of the 9th Annual BRICS meeting, and equally convey our well wishes to the Brazilian government on the eve of hosting the Energy Transition Working Group and Ministerial of the G20 meetings in a week’s time from this sitting.

We are therefore keenly looking forward to the ensuing discussions on the presentation and finalization of the Ministerial communique, and most importantly on how it finds its expression in the upcoming events as alluded to supra.

I thank you!