The energy coordination strategy should be on the agenda at the coming 5th BRICS Summit, a leading South African trade union said Friday.

"The question of energy, its production, supply and consumption will be a litmus test of whether the constellation known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa ) is a coherent political entity," said the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) in a statement.

The 5th BRICS Summit is scheduled to be held in the South African port city of Durban on Tuesday. "Between themselves the five BRICS countries have abundant energy sources such as coal, oil, gas, nuclear and other renewable energy sources," said the statement. "There is no doubt that for their continued economic development, the BRICS countries require ongoing supply of energy."

"There can be no question about the fact that for these economies to grow and develop, they will need to ensure a continually growing supply of energy. As such, one of the agendas of the BRICS summit will have to be the question of energy production, distribution and consumption," the statement added.

The union expressed hope that the BRICS summit could reach an understanding on the energy cooperation, especially in the development of renewable energy. Endi