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Xi Jinping will not attend the Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, Chinese officials have said, marking his first absence at the high table of the world’s leading emerging economies.
Beijing has informed host Brazil of Mr Xi’s absence, citing a scheduling conflict, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.
The 17th annual Brics summit is scheduled for 6-7 July.
China will likely send premier Li Qiang to the summit instead. He similarly attended the G20 summit in India in 2023 in Mr Xi’s stead.
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The report speculated that the Brazilian president’s invitation for a state dinner to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi could have sparked Mr Xi’s withdrawal as it could have made the Chinese leader appear as a “supporting actor”.
The Chinese president has never missed a Brics summit since taking office and has participated in every edition since 2013.
For two years during the Covid pandemic, he participated in the summit virtually.
In response to reports about Mr Xi skipping the summit, the Brazilian foreign ministry said it “will not comment on internal deliberations of foreign delegations”.
The last-minute pull out, however, has reportedly left Brazil upset.
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... One Brazilian bank, now owned by China, recently became the first in Latin America to use China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) for trade between the two countries. The CIPS network has reached over 1,300 financial institutions across 110 countries. ...
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More than a new global monetary hegemon, then, we may be facing global monetary warlordism, with the euro, the renminbi, crypto — and we could add gold — vying for position.
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According to the Shanghai Gold Council, the Shanghai Gold Exchange has made important progress in the coffers of Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. On May 8, 2025, the Saudi delivery bank of the Shanghai Gold Exchange was officially opened to realize the "two-way free exchange" of the RMB and gold, and at the same time, it also facilitated the direct participation of Middle Eastern investors in Shanghai gold trading through the Saudi Treasury. On June 26, 2025, the Shanghai Gold Exchange officially opened the designated international board warehouse in Hong Kong, and launched the gold trading contract for delivery in Hong Kong, and a number of Chinese and foreign institutions successfully reached the transaction on the first day.
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Russia and China are taking concrete steps to reduce Western influence over global gold markets, signalling a broader move towards monetary self-reliance and the redomiciliation of gold reserves away from traditional Western centres.
Russia is preparing to launch its own gold exchange, independent of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), which has dominated international price-setting since the early 20th century. According to officials, trading on the new Russian platform will be based on physical bullion, with participation open to BRICS member states.
This marks an effort to establish a gold market “self-sufficient” from Western financial infrastructure, reflecting wider de-dollarisation trends among emerging economies.
China has also taken a decisive step by opening its first offshore gold vault in Hong Kong. The facility allows trade partners with a positive balance with China to convert surplus yuan directly into gold via the Shanghai Gold Exchange, bypassing the US dollar entirely.
Describing the move, Chinese officials said it represents “a bold move toward transparency in trade and a return to 19th-century principles: where there’s gold, there’s money.”
The development is expected to enhance the yuan’s role in international transactions, particularly among countries affected by US sanctions. Gold has continued to rise as a safe-haven asset, hitting successive all-time highs in recent months amid trade tensions and geopolitical uncertainty.
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Major countries and regional blocs in Africa are throwing their weight behind an ambitious plan to establish a “non-circulating” currency backed by critical minerals, which are crucial to technological development, defense, and economic growth.
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The proposed monetary unit is provisionally called the African Units of Account (AUA), according to a plan formulated by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and KPMG South Africa.
The new currency is supported by the African Union and South Africa, the continent’s biggest economic power, and could soon be piloted in a test market.
The proposal says the AUA would be traded on the international foreign exchange market, and would be less susceptible to fluctuations in individual African currencies or the U.S. dollar, making it more attractive to investors.
Economists say the backing of the currency with mineral reserves could reduce the risk perceived by lenders, potentially leading to lower interest rates on loans for development projects, especially in Africa’s energy sector.
While some in Africa’s mining industry are optimistic about the potential of such a currency, others warn that China could “weaponize” it, given Beijing’s dominance in global critical minerals supply chains.
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The Securing Minerals for the Energy Transition (SMET) initiative, led by the World Economic Forum with McKinsey & Company as knowledge partner, brings together governments, industry, finance and development partners to drive coordinated action on critical minerals.
This regional effort, in collaboration with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), draws on discussions from recent multi-stakeholder convenings, reflecting regional and international perspectives on practical solutions to scale responsible mineral value chains in Southern Africa.
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