STRATEGIC EYE – A column on current affairs – relating to India and/or Canada and looking at ways to promote Indo-Canadian relations in many spheres.
The Economic Potential Of Group’s Members Brazil, Russia, India, China And South Africa Is Immense
By Nivedita Das Kundu@
The BRICS countries is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa, where all seemed to be at a similar stage of emerging economies. The BRICS groups demonstrate how geographically distant countries with different social and economic challenges can become partners and generate a convergence that changes the axis of international politics.
BRICS aim is to take this cooperation forward on the basis of openness, solidarity, mutual understanding and trust and for promoting peace, security and development in a multi-polar, inter-dependent and increasingly complex, globalizing world. The BRICS grouping aims to remain engaged with the world community to bring stability in a responsible and constructive manner.
The 11th BRICS summit will be held on November 13-14 in the city of Brasilia under the Brazilian chairmanship. The leaders of the BRICS countries will meet in the Itamaraty Palace. The Brazilian capital will host the BRICS summit for the second time.
Last time the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China met there in 2010 in a four-party format. South Africa officially acceded to BRICS in 2011 during a summit in the city of Sanya, China. The 12th BRICS summit in 2020, will be hosted in Russia’s south central city of Chelyabinsk.
This is one of the major industrial provincial cities in Russia. It is located east of the Ural Mountains, about 200 km south of Yekaterinburg. Chelyabinsk is known as “the gateway to Siberia,” because, the city is bisected by the river Myasis which is the border between the Urals and Siberia. BRICS Summits deals upon the issues identifies by the group focusing largely on traditional BRICS issues.
During the summit meetings the leaders discuss on collective measures to boost cooperation among them and take steps to jointly respond to common challenges. BRICS is considered as a serious transnational group that can play a key role in reforming the world management system and can contribute towards maintaining economic growth, peace and security. The 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia’s, main theme is “Economic growth for innovative future.” with the participation of leaders of the top five emerging economies is expected to discuss collective measures to boost cooperation among them and take steps to jointly respond to common challenges.
BRICS has established its own bank, The New Development Bank (NDB) with initial authorized capital of $100 billion. As per the 2017-2019 operational strategy of NDB, the development of sustainable infrastructure is central to its philosophy.
All the members have equal share and there is no provision of veto power. The bank is not averse to working with other international organizations which shows that, it is not trying to rival the likes of the World Bank or IMF but intends to work with them. All it wants is to reshape the norms on which global financial governance is based. It is an alternative to the Atlantic system of global financial architecture.
BRICS is trying to set up a target to double the number of intra-BRICS trade to $500bn by 2020. The World needs better economic structures and BRICS has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed economies toward the developing world.
It is expected that the economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is such that they could become among the five most dominant economies by the year 2050. They are the largest economies outside the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,).
Though, BRICS is still a young group, however, it’s size, power and the growing global influence of its members have made it more attractive. Though coordinating policy at the level of BRICS will not be that easy, given that the political interests of BRICS members clash at various levels.
Still, this group could be a channel for resolving many pressing global politico-economic concerns. One of the biggest obstacles that comes on the way of BRICS development and growth is the environmental degradation causes. Another significant cause of concern for BRICS is that substantial numbers of poor people live in these countries.
BRICS has showed new ways of international cooperation. BRICS groups tries to work closely to ensure regional peace and stability and create a favorable condition for regional development. BRICS does not include any Western countries, so under the BRICS framework the discussion on the problems & prospects takes place without West’s influence or interference.
The views discussed during the BRICS summits are more of non-west than anti-west. BRICS summits determines the areas of the future cooperation and tries to develop joint position on the political and economic issues and concerns to suit their interests and coordinate accordingly their positions in order to prepare in a better manner for further discussions. There is a huge prospect for the BRICS to cooperate in many fields mainly in education sectors, natural resources, technological sectors, agriculture and can draw up plans for working together in many different spheres.
@Nivedita Das Kundu, Ph.D, international relations expert and strategic and foreign policy analyst.