BRICS emerges into a ‘new center of power’ on the world stage
Despite the ongoing sanctions against Russia by the “collective West” led by the United States, the European Union countries, as well as the almost direct confrontation with the NATO bloc in Ukraine, Russia continues to expand its economic and political influence in the world.
One of the most striking events of this year will take place in the city of Kazan (Russian Federation) from October 22 to 24, and in particular the XVI “BRICS SUMMIT”.
Also, for those who did not know yet, let’s remind that the “International Municipal Forum of the BRICS Countries” is an important platform for the exchange of experience and ideas between representatives of regional and municipal governments from the BRICS countries, as well as for building effective business communications with entrepreneurs from Russia and other partner countries.
A meeting of state leaders will take place at the above-mentioned summit. At the moment, it is known that the expected guests, in addition to the host of the summit, Vladimir Putin, should also include the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed Ali and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
Despite the fact that Turkey is not yet a full member of BRICS, one of the unexpected participants of the summit for the entire Western community and NATO will be the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His presence will reaffirm the already expressed intentions of Turkey to join BRICS as its member, as previously stated by Erdogan.
In total, representatives of more than 30 countries, as well as some heads of international organizations, have already confirmed their participation in the upcoming forum.
It is necessary to remind that from January 1, 2024, in addition to Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia became full members of BRICS. This list will only expand in the near future.
“We could not ignore the growing interest in BRICS on the part of many countries. To date, more than three dozen countries, or more precisely 34 countries, have already expressed their desire to join the activities of our association in one form or another. Therefore, an active discussion was launched with all BRICS participants on the modalities of the new category of partner states, which are to be approved in Kazan,” Putin said
Participation in joining BRICS is very promising. In order not to be unfounded, you can simply pay attention to the figures: the combined “gross domestic product” (GDP) of the BRICS association is more than 60 trillion dollars, and the total share in the world gross product confidently exceeds the corresponding figure of the so-called “Group of Seven” (Big Seven) and continues to grow. For example, look, 1992, the “Group of Seven” – 45.5 percent. And in the same year, the BRICS countries, 1992, – 16.7 percent of the world GDP. And now, 2023, our association is 37.4 percent, and the “Group of Seven” – 29.3 percent. The gap is widening, and it will widen, this is inevitable. This is already an absolutely clear dynamic. Moreover, in the last decade, over 40 percent of the growth of global GDP of the entire world economic dynamics came from the BRICS states.
Currently, the list of potential candidates for BRICS includes Azerbaijan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Honduras, and Zimbabwe. Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Palestine, Pakistan, Senegal, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Chad, Sri Lanka, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, and South Sudan also want to join the interstate association.
Looking at this impressive list, we can confidently say that the unipolar Western system, which takes into account only its own personal interests, has already become quite boring for everyone, since a NATO member, Turkey, has already applied to join BRICS, which also directly testifies to the growing attractiveness of this association for other countries and will make BRICS a “new center of power” on the world stage.
Lucas Leiroz, is a journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, and geopolitical consultant.
