Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi arrived on Wednesday to Durban in South Africa to attend the BRICS summit, which begins later today.

BRICS is an association of emerging national economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The BRICS members are the largest fast growing economies of developing and newly-industrialized countries.

They represent 40 percent of the world's population, nearly 30 percent of the world's geographical area and 26 percent of the purchasing powers worldwide. The BRICS countries command approximately one fifth of global nominal GDP (over 19 percent).

The president is scheduled to attend a high level meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit

Mursi is accompanied by a high-level ministerial delegation and hold separate talks with participating heads of states on bilateral economic cooperation.

He has recently attended the Arab Summit in Qatar.