Brics must deliver on its promises to stay relevant

From the editor’s desk

By Rabindra mukherjee

With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s confirmation recently that he will attend the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22-24, earlier speculations ended that the summit could become a virtual meet as Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided not to attend it in-person. In a telephonic conversation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Indian Prime Minister accepted the invitation saying he looked forward to his visit to Johannesburg to participate in the summit. Now that the summit is all set to take place as per schedule, the focus shifts on what this summit could entail. To put the whole thing into perspective a quick reminder of what BRICS is. BRICS is a multilateral grouping of countries comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and it represents and symbolizes the fast-growing economies of the world that would collectively dominate the global economy by 2050.

It all started with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China meeting for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. This was followed by formalizing the group as Bric during the first Bric foreign ministers’ meeting in 2006 on the side lines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City. A series of high-level meetings paved the way for the first Bric summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia in 2009. Later when South Africa joined the group and became its full member, Bric was renamed as BRICS. Though BRICS has held 14 summits so far, a reassessment of the grouping and its achievements are needed for it to remain relevant in a fastchanging global environment. It is here significant to appreciate the fact that BRICS can become a major grouping with a lot of influence in the international arena as it has brought together the major emerging economies, comprising 41% of the world population, with 24% of the world GDP and over 16% share in the world trade. In that light, BRICS countries have already been the main instruments of global economic growth over the years. This fact ought to be taken into consideration as the BRICS countries collectively have the potential to shape the world’s history, provided they can leave aside irritants of the past that may not have fructified the aspirations of this grouping to the extent it ought to have achieved.

While deliberations among BRICS countries have primarily been held on important issues related to political, security, economic, financial, cultural and peopleto-people exchanges, there are certain key areas on which these countries have largely focused and would, in all likelihood, want to move on from there to more wide-ranging issues facing the world today. It all looks promising when the BRICS member countries focus on key areas such as having a consensus on important global and regional issues that will be reflective of a non-western view rather than having a western perspective. The non-western way of looking at important international and regional issues is significant given the fact that many challenges facing the world have not been addressed adequately due to what can be termed as a western stereotypical approach to solving international problems. This calls for multi-polarity in international order thereby putting a curb on the ever-growing western influence which has not been of much benefit to the developing world. Therefore if BRICS needs to remain relevant and influential in the world, it must opt for geopolitical cooperation among member countries. Then there is the question of economic cooperation among the members.

The 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014 saw the leaders sign the agreement for establishing the New Development Bank, which has committed $32.8 billion in 96 socio-economic development projects as of now. In the same year, the member countries signed a treaty with a view to forestalling short-term balance of payments pressures and strengthen financial stability of the BRICS nations. Moreover, BRICS member countries are endeavouring to create a payment system as an alternative to the SWIFT payment system. With the Russia-Ukraine war showing no signs of ending any time soon, this initiative has taken on a new urgency as Russia has been out of the SWIFT payment system. But diplomatic logjam continues within the BRICS platform on the issue of China and Russia fully supporting India, South Africa and Brazil wanting to play a greater role in the UN Security Council. China has so far been a major hurdle insofar as India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council is concerned. In a multi-lateral grouping, if certain member countries deserve their share of prominence internationally by virtue of what they have done for other countries and the potential they have economically and in other areas of human sphere, it is only apt for other member countries to support their aspirations. This has, however, been lacking with BRICS so far showing that diplomatic bankruptcy prevails within the grouping. This needs to be tackled collectively during their forthcoming summit in Johannesburg.

Then there is the issue of festering India-China relations following China’s aggressive stance along the Line of Actual Control. China’s military assertiveness and utter neglect of India’s concerns along the border and repeated skirmishes between the armies of the two nations make it challenging for a multi-lateral grouping like BRICS to conduct normal business and build consensus on issues of global and regional interests. The consolidation of China-Russia relations following Russia’s war with Ukraine has made it difficult for other member countries of BRICS to maintain a balance between the West and ChinaRussia. The West is already against both China and Russia’s belligerent policies, and therefore any country that allies with them will naturally attract their wrath, though global politics is now much more considerate of the international compulsions of respective countries, unlike the days before World War II and during the Cold War.

Moreover, as all the BRICS member countries have trade relations with China, it is being felt and articulated as well that there is a trade imbalance with China which favours it more than other BRICS member countries. Balancing trade with China is a challenge, and it is being increasingly felt that China uses the BRICS platform to promote its own interests rather than ensuring multilateral trade interests are fulfilled. Also China has been pushing for a common currency for trade among BRICS countries, and consensus is yet to be built on this issue among the members of the grouping.

While the BRICS began with a lot of promise, much of its sheen was lost after events like COVID-19, the Galwan clash, and the Ukraine conflict unfolded. However, the group continues to attract attention as several countries want to be its member. Countries like Argentina, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Uruguay from Latin America, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, and Morocco from Africa, and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Türkiye, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Bangladesh from Asia want to become its member.

Then, there is the third option of admission to five new members, one each supported by an existing member, with none of the other four members using their veto.

If there is a consensus on the third option, countries such as Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, UAE, and Bangladesh are the most likely states to become new members of BRICS. Therefore the forthcoming BRICS Summit could see many important decisions of global and regional interests taken by striving to build consensus on most of these issues. This is the need of the hour if BRICS is to continue to remain relevant, and possibly increase its share of power and influence globally.