BRICS
BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Originally identified to highlight investment opportunities,[1] the grouping evolved into a cohesive geopolitical bloc, with their governments meeting annually at formal summits and coordinating multilateral policies since 2009. Bilateral relations among BRICS are conducted mainly on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.[2]
"Brics" redirects here. For the municipality in Spain, see Brics, Spain.Abbreviation
BRICS
Founder member states' initials (in English)
BRIC (informal)
Political and economical
Member states
The founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the first summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, with South Africa joining the bloc a year later.[3][4] Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the organization on 1 January 2024.[5][6]
Combined, the BRICS members encompass about 30% of the world's land surface and 45% of the global population.[a] Brazil, Russia, India, and China are among the world's ten largest countries by population, area, and gross domestic product (GDP) nominal and by purchasing power parity. All five initial member states are members of the G20, with a combined nominal GDP of US$28 trillion (about 27% of the gross world product), a total GDP (PPP) of around US$57 trillion (33% of global GDP PPP), and an estimated US$4.5 trillion in combined foreign reserves (as of 2018).[8][9]
The BRICS countries are considered the foremost geopolitical rival to the G7 bloc of leading advanced economies, implementing competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, the BRICS pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication[10] and the BRICS basket reserve currency.[11]
BRICS has received both praise[12][13] and criticism[14][15][16] from numerous commentators.
History
Founding
The term BRIC was originally developed in the context of foreign investment strategies. It was introduced in the 2001 publication, Building Better Global Economic BRICs by then-chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Jim O'Neill.[17][18]
The foreign ministers of the initial four BRIC General states (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) met in New York City in September 2006 at the margins of the General Debate of the UN Assembly, beginning a series of high-level meetings.[19] A full-scale diplomatic meeting was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009.[20]
The BRIC grouping's 1st formal summit, also held in Yekaterinburg, commenced on 16 June 2009,[21] with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Dmitry Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, and Hu Jintao, the respective leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, all attending.[22] The summit's focus was on improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions, and discussed how the 4 countries could better co-operate in the future.[21][22] There was further discussion of ways that developing countries, such as 3/4 of the BRIC members, could become more involved in global affairs.[22]
In the aftermath of the 2009 Yekaterinburg summit, the BRIC nations announced the need for a new global reserve currency, which would have to be "diverse, stable and predictable."[23] Although the statement that was released did not directly criticize the perceived "dominance" of the US dollar – something that Russia had criticized in the past – it did spark a fall in the value of the dollar against other major currencies.[24]
2010 expansion
In 2010, South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping, and the process for its formal admission began in August of that year.[25] South Africa officially became a member nation on 24 December 2010, after being formally invited by China to join[26] and subsequently accepted by other BRIC countries.[25] The group was renamed BRICS – with the "S" standing for South Africa – to reflect the group's expanded membership.[27] In April 2011, the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, attended the 2011 BRICS summit in Sanya, China, as a full member.[28][29][30]
BRICS Pro Tempore Presidency
The group at each summit elects one of the heads of state of the component countries to serve as President Pro Tempore of the BRICS.
In 2019, the pro tempore presidency was held by the president of Brazil.[122]
The theme of the 11th BRICS summit was "BRICS: economic growth for an innovative future", and the priorities of the Brazilian Pro Tempore Presidency for 2019 are the following – Strengthening of the cooperation in Science, technology and innovation; Enhancement of the cooperation on digital economy; Invigoration of the cooperation on the fight against transnational crime, especially against organized crime, money laundering and drug trafficking; Encouragement to the rapprochement between the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Business Council.[56]
Currently the new President Pro Tempore is Russia and their goals are: investing into BRICS countries in order to strengthen everyone's economies, cooperating in the energy and environmental industries, helping with young children and coming up with resolutions on migration and peacekeeping.[123]
