The BRICS meeting in Russia
The U.S. mainstream media has been mostly silent about the meeting of BRICS countries in Kazan, Russia this week. President Putin greeted more than 20 heads of state including China’s Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Leaders of several other countries that have shown an interest in deepening ties with BRICS are also participating, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping, often referred to as a counterweight to the Western-led world, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia, too, has been invited to join. The BRICS nations account for 45% of the global population. Added together, members’ economies are worth more than $28.5tn, around 28% of the global economy.
The BRICS is trying to challenge the dominance of the G7: the world’s seven largest advanced economies Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. The group sets priorities and has discussions once every year during the summit, which members take turns hosting. The summit is the 16th held. In 2023, BRICS extended invitations to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after these countries applied for membership. Saudi Arabia has yet to formally join, but the others have.
The central theme that unites BRICS members is their disillusionment with U.S. and Western-led institutions of global governance, especially when it comes to trade and the economy. The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine have spooked many nations, worried that the U.S. and the West could weaponize tools of global finance against them if they would misbehave according to Western standards.
To that end, BRICS partners want to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and the SWIFT system, an international messaging network for financial transactions. BRICS members are now working on using their national currencies more for bilateral trade to insulate them from currency fluctuations and cut their dependence on the dollar.
China now has an alternative to the SWIFT payment system, though limited in use, and countries like Turkey and Brazil increasingly restructure their dollar reserves into gold. Currency swaps for energy deals are also a popular idea, all suggesting a desire for greater financial independence from the West.
Other countries are eager to trade more with BRICS countries and form closer ties, in particular in Africa and South America. They want to limit dependences on former colonial Western powers, known for imperialism and economic exploitation. BRICS serves as a trustworthy alternative. Also, as the U.S. and the allies are conducting a proxy war in Ukraine and are supporting the Israeli genocide in the Middle East, BRICS offers an alternative. There is a massive shift in global trading and the world seems to split into two opposing blocs, the former colonialists U.S.-led Western bloc, and the new economy Russia-China-led Eastern bloc. There is indeed a new world order, and the BRICS is expanding rapidly.