Mbeki, counterparts meeting for IBSA summit

President Thabo Mbeki is meeting with his counterparts from India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian president, Lula da Silva.

The heads of the three powerful democracies of the South are meeting under the auspices of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit. IBSA - as the alliance is known - seeks to forge trade, economic and political relations between the three countries.

All three member states of the IBSA forum would like to represent their respective regions on an expanded UN Security Council.

All three countries have ambitions to join the UN Security Council and see their alliance as an opportunity to push the concerns of developing countries in the southern hemisphere.

G8 of the South
According to Jerry Matjila, deputy director general in the foreign ministry, IBSA aims to become the "G8 of the South". His Brazilian counterpart, Roberto Jaguaribe, says the three countries have legitimate reason to be the representatives of the developing world as they are all multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and pluralistic.

India says it regards the summit as a unique forum which brings together three large democracies with common challenges from three different continents. However, Brazil faces competition from Argentina and Mexico; South Africa has to contend with Egypt and Nigeria; while India faces Pakistan in the competition to represent South Asia.