South Africa

=== Foreign relations ===
{{Main|Foreign relations of South Africa}}
[[File:Leaders BRICS summit 2019.jpg|thumb|left|President of South Africa, [[Cyril Ramaphosa]] (far left), poses with the [[BRICS]] heads of state and government during the [[11th BRICS summit]], 2019]]

As the Union of South Africa, the country was a founding member of the United Nations (UN), with Prime Minister [[Jan Smuts]] writing the [[preamble to the United Nations Charter|preamble to the UN Charter]].<ref name="gildersleeve">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Summer2001/Gildersleeve.html|title=Virginia Gildersleeve: Opening the Gates (Living Legacies)|first=Rosalind|last=Rosenberg|date=Summer 2001|magazine=Columbia Magazine|access-date=14 December 2009|archive-date=2 January 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040102153832/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Summer2001/Gildersleeve.html|url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Schlesinger">{{cite book|author=Schlesinger, Stephen E.|title=Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations: A Story of Superpowers, Secret Agents, Wartime Allies and Enemies, and Their Quest for a Peaceful World|publisher=Westview, Perseus Books Group|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=2004|pages=236–7|isbn=978-0-8133-3275-8 }}</ref> South Africa is one of the founding members of the [[African Union]] (AU) and has the [[List of African countries by GDP (nominal)|third largest economy of all the members]]. It is a founding member of the AU's [[New Partnership for Africa's Development]]. After apartheid ended, South Africa was readmitted to the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]. The country is a member of the [[Group of 77]] and chaired the organisation in 2006. South Africa is also a member of the [[Southern African Development Community]], [[South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone]], [[Southern African Customs Union]], [[Antarctic Treaty System]], [[World Trade Organization]], International Monetary Fund, [[G20]], [[G8+5]], and the [[Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa]].

South Africa has played a key role as a mediator in African conflicts over the last decade, such as in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, and Zimbabwe.

President [[Jacob Zuma]] and Chinese President [[Hu Jintao]] upgraded bilateral ties between the two countries in 2010 when they signed the Beijing Agreement which elevated South Africa's earlier "strategic partnership" with China to the higher level of "comprehensive strategic partnership" in both economic and political affairs, including the strengthening of exchanges between their respective ruling parties and legislatures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://capetown.china-consulate.org/eng/gdxw/t726883.htm|title=China, South Africa upgrade relations to "comprehensive strategic partnership"|publisher=Capetown.china-consulate.org|date=25 August 2010|access-date=26 June 2013|archive-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731050004/http://capetown.china-consulate.org/eng/gdxw/t726883.htm|url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafrica.info/global/brics/brics-080411.htm|title=New era as South Africa joins BRICS|publisher=Southafrica.info|date=11 April 2011|access-date=26 June 2013|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418004139/http://www.southafrica.info/global/brics/brics-080411.htm|archive-date=18 April 2011}}</ref> In 2011, South Africa joined the Brazil-Russia-India-China ([[BRICS]]) grouping of countries, identified by Zuma as the country's largest trading partners and also the largest trading partners with Africa as a whole. Zuma asserted that BRICS member countries would also work with each other through the UN, G20, and the India, Brazil South Africa ([[IBSA Dialogue Forum|IBSA]]) forum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafrica.info/global/brics/brics-140411.htm|title=SA brings 'unique attributes' to BRICS|publisher=Southafrica.info|date=14 April 2011|access-date=26 June 2013|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709031314/http://www.southafrica.info/global/brics/brics-140411.htm|archive-date=9 July 2011}}</ref>