The 15th BRICS Summit was held from August 22-24 at Johannesburg wherein President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Prime Minister Narandra Modi of India participated personally. President Xi Jinping unexpectedly avoided attendance in BRICS Business Forum despite being present in the city and his message was read by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. However, he attended other segments of the event in-person. Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the conference virtually due to the reason that ‘International Court of Justice’ had issued arrest warrant against him in March, 2023 for war-crimes during Ukraine invasion and South Africa as an ICC signatory was under obligation to honor It. In absence of the Russian President, its delegation was led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The delegations of 67 countries were also invited as observers apart from the UNO, African Union, OIC, ASEAN and ‘Arab Maghreb Union’. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres remained present during the proceedings. The President of the host country Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the meeting as per tradition. It was the first in-person summit of the block since 2019.
Since its inception in 2009, BRICS has been a ‘diverse’ or ‘disparate’ group, ranging from South Africa, relatively a much smaller but Africa’s most developed nation to China, the world’s most-populated country and the second biggest economy. Two most conspicuous members: India and China do not enjoy cordial relations due to their age-old border dispute which creates occasional hindrance in consensus decision-making in the group. Russia tries to use this forum to demonstrate before the West that it had number of friends elsewhere; whereas India and Brazil have cultivated the West over the time; and value this relationship a lot. Russia and particularly China are eager to expand the forum which, according to them, will enhance its stature though it already represents 40% of world’s population and 25% of global GDP. Just recently, South Africa has also expressed its support for enlarging the membership of BRICS. India, though wary of Chinese dominance, has always preached cautiousness on the issue and emphasized to move with ‘a positive intent and an open mind’. Brazil feels that expanding BRICS will dilute its influence however it is in favour of allowing entry to Argentina, its neighbor and friend. All these differences keep-on surfacing in different forms. Most of the political observers, however, do not take this ‘divergence of opinion’ on various issues in a negative manner and consider it ’normal’ in such-like organizations. However, there is a set of analysts that thinks otherwise: they view that ‘the block’s chances of becoming a global political and economic player are limited due to its lack of a coherent vision, divisions and absence of concrete results’. The US keeps a close watch of the BRICS-related activities and as per NSA Jake Sullivan Washington does not see the forum ‘turning into a geo-political rival of the US’ as it is a ‘very diverse collection of countries ……..with differences of view on critical issues’.
The Johannesburg summit attracted quite impressive media coverage and political observers, around the globe, took keen interest in its proceedings. The most important development was the decision to enlarge the BRICS membership; in result of which six aspiring countries i.e. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were invited to join the group on 1st, January, 2024. Actually, more than 40 nations had expressed interest in becoming member whereas 23 had formally applied for it. Out of all the aspirants the above-mentioned six were selected at the eleventh hour. Earlier, to decide the matter, the BRICS leadership remained locked in closed-door deliberations for two days and finally developed a consensus on the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures of the group’s expansion process. According to BRICS spokesperson, ‘it heralded a new phase of global collaboration and shared markets’. The move indicated the increase in the entity’s capability as a counterbalance to the West. The South African President vide his press-talk highlighted the emergence of new economic, political, social, and technical realities and stressed that ‘these realities call for a fundamental reform of the institutions of global governance, so that they may be more representative and better able to respond to the challenges that confront humanity’. It was claimed by the relevant quarters that ‘the decision aimed at accelerating its push to reshuffle a world order it sees as outdated’. Moreover, the BRICS leaders have left the door open to future enlargement as dozens more countries are keen to join the group because they hope that ‘it will level the global playing-field’. This expansion is also expected to amplify BRICS declared ambition to become ‘a champion of the Global South’.
According to Al-Jazeera’s analysis, ‘it is hard to find commonalities among the six countries invited to join BRICS other than that they are each significant states in their respective regions’. However, the inclusion of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE makes the decision ‘Middle East Centric’. Sanusha Naidu, a South African researcher has remarked that ‘it has geo-economic, geo-strategic and geo-political implications’ and it demonstrates growing interest of China and India, the two big-Whigs of BRICS, in the Middle East region. Some commentators have called it ‘energy-centric’ and few even have amusingly questioned that should it be titled ‘BRICS plus OPEC?
President Ibrahim Raisi has called joining BRICS ‘a strategic victory of Iran’s foreign policy’. Sections of media have viewed that the move contained signs of an emerging China-Russia coalition. More blunt label it as ‘anti-America’ however this factor has the potential to ‘linger between members who want to forge the grouping into a counterweight to the West ——notably China, Russia and Iran—-and those that want to nurture close ties to the US and Europe’. The joining of Saudi Arabia and UAE exhibits their drift away from the US ‘orbit’ and ‘ambition to become global heavyweights’.
The pan-African activists are jubilant on the admission of Egypt and Ethiopia: two African nations which hold esteemed positions among the ‘big five’ of the ‘African Union’. Now, both the countries will fortify the links between the BRICS and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The African reviewers consider the development as recognition of their continent’s importance in building a ‘multi-polar model’ and signing the end of the Western ‘uni-polar system’. According to Nathalie Yam, a Cameroonian-Swiss Civil Society activist, ‘this expansion gives hope to emerging countries that want a geo-political rebalancing’. Such-like elements yearn for a change at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.
Yeshiel Panchia, in ‘Forbes’ dated 25.08.2023 has summed-up the impacts of the BRICS enlargement suitably. He observes that in its newly-emerged form ‘BRICS is not merely an economic or political grouping but a lever of global diplomatic influence’ having ‘potential to shape international discourse and policy’. The same analyst adds that the move stipulates ‘a clear view for a multipolar world characterized by equitable development, sustainable growth, and collective security’ positioning the block as a resilient and collaborative force capable of up-setting the prevalent politico-economic system. On the other hand, the observations of Mohamed Chebaro of the ‘Arab News’ are also worth-consideration. He stresses that only ‘the concrete achievements will drive BRICS forward and not mere rhetoric’. He exemplifies the unsatisfactory results of BRICS efforts to de-dollarize the world economy. Also the block’s development bank launched in 2015 with the aim of competing with the IMF and WB has not been able to take-off as yet.
The last word: The US-led West needs to transform itself comprehensively for confronting the emerging challenges.
Is basically the recognition of their continent’s importance in building a ‘multi-polar model’ and ‘signing the end of Western uni-polar model’. Nathia Yamb, a Cameroonian-Swiss civil-society activist remarked that ‘this extension was a hope to emerging countries that want a geo-political rebalancing’.
