La Paz, August 23 (Prensa Latina)-- The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, confirmed on his Twitter account that today he will arrive in South Africa to take part in the 15th Brics Summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

"We are heading to #South Africa to participate in the #BRICS Summit, a key economic space in times in which a new multipolar world is configured," wrote the president shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

Arce informed on that social network that before leaving he handed over the Baton of Command to Vice President David Choquehuanca.

In statements to Prensa Latina, the Minister of Economy, Marcelo Montenegro, described as "important" the presence of the dignitary at the summit in Johannesburg.

"The elements that Bolivia potentially has in terms of generating energy and producing food, surely this group of emerging nations will take them into account to take our country as an important ally", said the Minister to this news agency.

Speaking on the subject, the Bolivian Foreign Minister, Rogelio Mayta, informed that the President will comply with an invitation from his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, and on August 24 he will put Bolivia back on the global scene.

He confirmed that on June 12, Arce addressed a letter to the five leaders of that bloc in which he expressed Bolivia's will to be part of it.

The head of the Bolivian diplomacy clarified that this is a complex process and the presence of the Plurinational State in the forum does not mean an immediate entry.

He added, however, that the request already expressed reflects Bolivia's desire to actively contribute to spaces of political dialogue in the world, to new approaches of integration with sovereignty.

The Brics account for more than 20 percent of the global gross domestic product and 42 percentage points of the world's population.

A possible integration of Bolivia would mean adding to the largest lithium reserve on the planet with 23 million tons of the metal, whose demand is growing daily in the midst of the energy transformation towards electromobility that humanity is experiencing.

South African government sources put the number of countries that officially expressed their desire to join the Brics group at 23.

They are: Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam.

According to the hosts, international leaders such as the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Secretary General of the African Union Commission, the Secretary General of the New Development Bank and the presidents and chief executives of the African Regional Economic Communities are also participating in the meeting.