The BRICS summit is held in the Russian city of Kazan. This time’s summit is special in many ways. One important reason is that the BRICS is no longer a five-country organization. Now 10 countries have become its members. The second reason is that in this summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In just a few years, the BRICS have become the most powerful organization in the world. The interesting thing is that there are more than three dozen countries that want to join the BRICS. These are those countries that until now were neither with the United States and Western countries nor with Russia and China.
But now many countries in the world want to come with the BRICS instead of the United States and Western countries. This is also because these countries see the BRICS as an alternative to global organizations dominated by Western countries. American opposition is also forcing many countries to move closer to the BRICS. But the big question that arises is whether a new “world order” is being created through the BRICS.
This is also clear from the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A day before the BRICS summit, Lavrov had said that regular meetings in the triumvirate of India, Russia and China had begun in the 1990s. BRICS was later formed from this trio. He also said that the power of the world is shifting to Asia.
BRIC, BRICS and now BRICS+
The first meeting of the BRIC countries took place in 2006. The BRIC included Brazil, Russia, India and China. The first summit meeting of the BRIC countries took place in 2009. In 2010, South Africa also joined this organization and the name of the organization changed from BRIC to BRICS.
Last year alone, five new countries joined the BRICS. These countries are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. After their arrival, it is now known as BRICS+.
Even now many countries in the world want to join the BRICS. Chinese President Xi Jinping is believed to be the mastermind behind the new countries that joined last year. Jinping hopes that the more the BRICS grow, the less the influence of the United States and Western countries will be.
Also Read: How ‘mountain’ of tension between India and China was removed? What was Putin’s role in bringing Modi-Jinping to the negotiating table?
How are the BRICS changing the world order?
Most countries that express their desire to join the BRICS are anti-Western. They have two purposes. First, weaken the dominance of Western countries. And secondly, reduce dependence on the US dollar in business.
First, the war between Russia and Ukraine and then the conflict between Israel and Hamas have divided the world into two factions. One faction is from the United States and the other is from Russia and China.
Russia and China are the most supportive of the expansion of the BRICS. These are the two countries that are against the United States and the Western countries. Russia is irritated with Western countries over sanctions stemming from the war with Ukraine. At the same time, China is trying to attract smaller countries to strengthen itself.
Not only this, the three new countries that have joined the BRICS (Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) are major oil and gas producers. Iran, which is fighting US sanctions, is also looking for new business friends. These people want to minimize their dependence on the United States and Western countries.
How will the United States be challenged?
The five founding members of the BRICS never thought the same. While Russia and China remained opposed to the United States and Western countries, India’s closeness to the United States continued to increase in protest against China. Brazil and South Africa also remain closer to the United States.
However, now, with the increase in the number of BRICS members, most of them have become anti-American. More opponents of the United States want to join the BRICS.
Russia and China also want the expansion of the BRICS, so that they can respond to US sanctions. With the arrival of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the strength of the BRICS has increased more than ever. If the United States imposes sanctions on any BRICS country in the future, then there will be no difficulties in doing business with member countries.
The second biggest challenge is reducing the dominance of the dollar. More than 90 percent of world trade is conducted in US dollars. 40 percent of loans are also granted only in dollars. Considering that not only Russia and China, but many countries in the world want to reduce their dependence on the US dollar. Brazilian President Lula da Silva once said he had nightmares about doing business in US dollars.
Not only this, the BRICS countries also want to reduce their dependence on the World Bank and the IMF, dominated by the United States. In 2014, the BRICS countries created the New Development Bank to compete with the World Bank. So far this bank has granted loans for more than 30 billion dollars.
The BRICS countries believe that if we want to reduce our dependence on the dollar, we will have to do business in our own currency. Russia and China have also reached agreements with many countries in this regard. China does business with many countries around the world in its Yuan currency.
Read also: Oil dominance, 37% of GDP… How powerful are the BRICS? Where will Modi-Putin-Jinping meet?
Will the BRICS be able to compete with the G-7?
There are now a total of 10 countries in BRICS. Not only this, the GDP of the BRICS countries is more than double that of the G-7 countries. The G-7 is an organization of the world’s seven largest economies, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Germany, France and Canada.
Six of the world’s nine largest oil producers are members of the BRICS. These include Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Brazil, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. This means that they have dominated the oil market. More than 43 percent of the world’s oil is produced in these countries.
The economic influence of the BRICS countries is also increasing. At the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow on Monday, Russian President Putin said that the GDP of the BRICS countries has exceeded $60 trillion, much higher than that of the G-7 countries.
Putin said the global economy has changed rapidly since 1992. In 1992, the share of G-7 countries in world GDP was 45.5%, while the share of BRICS countries was 16.7%. But by 2023, the G-7 share will increase to 29.3% and that of BRICS members will increase to 37.4%.
He also said that BRICS countries contribute 40% of global GDP growth. The growth rate of the BRICS countries is estimated to be 4% this year. Apart from this, 25% of world trade exports come from BRICS countries alone.
If more and more countries join the BRICS, then an agreement can be reached between them to do business in their own currency. If this happens, the US currency, the dollar, will directly weaken. Not only China and Russia, many countries want this.
