CAPE TOWN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Monday pledged to guard and strengthen the country's role in BRICS.

"We are particularly proud that, in BRICS, we are in partnership with nations that share both our progressive perspective and our commitment to rebuilding and transforming institutions of global governance," the party said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

The ANC issued the statement just before the 10th Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) hold their 10th summit in Johannesburg on July 25 to July 27. This year's summit will be a crucial milestone for the group, as it marks a decade of BRICS cooperation.

As the governing party, the ANC has used its progressive internationalism as a prism through which it shapes its foreign policy, the party said.

The ANC must utilize BRICS to promote a progressive international agenda, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said.

The strategic importance of South Africa's BRICS membership as part of its overall international relations strategy and that cooperation through forums such as BRICS "is of primary importance to our movement," said Mabe.

The ANC, he said, is confident that BRICS holds the key to unlock some of the answers to South Africa's current socio-economic challenges such as poverty, unemployment and inequality.

In this regard, the ANC has made a call to its cadres in the government to ensure that its BRICS membership is leveraged to advance the country's developmental goals and to ensure that the chairing of BRICS in 2018 is beneficial to South Africa and the entire continent, Mabe said.

"The ANC takes this opportunity to wish all delegates and participants a fruitful three days that will continue to deepen transformation in our respective countries," he added.