On July 25-27, 2018, Johannesburg (South Africa) will host the 10th BRICS summit, which will discuss issues of further integration between the member states. Within the BRICS a common financial space should be formed, the stock market must be combined to gradually form a common capital market. This will allow to solve long-term tasks and implement large-scale projects, says Valdai Club expert Vladimir Davydov, scientific director of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The behavior of US President Donald Trump and his administration on the world market reflects concerns about globalization, and the alternative centers of influence of the world economy took advantage of the situation much better than the old centers. In this regard, a new technological race is an attempt to reverse this trend, restoring the US hegemony. This will become a key competition between old and new centers of the world economy. If BRICS, being an incarnation of those alternative centers, will not join efforts in the technology race, then it is not necessary to expect serious positive results.
Of course, for the BRICS are very important financial instruments of interaction. There should be a common financial space. An important role is played by the New Development Bank (NDB), a pool of reserve currencies, but one important element is missing: the stock market must be combined to form gradually a common capital market. This will allow to solve long-term tasks, to realize such large projects as, for example, the production of wide-body aircraft, a joint project of China and Russia.
The two key vectors that need to be coordinated are the financial and technological components. It is necessary to unite the innovative capabilities of BRICS: technology, research. BRICS should not be on the sidelines of those structural shifts, which started in the world economy, and new serious risks appeared.
The positive effect of multilateral cooperation within the BRICS will inevitably affect the relations between individual countries. Unfortunately, the position of Brazil and South Africa within BRICS weakened. Not so long ago there was a change of leadership in South Africa. Nevertheless, the crisis was resolved with minimal costs. In any case, the South African Republic needs consolidation of its political elite.
We should look soberly at the complexity of BRICS problems and to overcome them. If we talk about Brazil, the crisis caused a very serious failure. It is not an objective consequence, because this process was launched artificially. I would like to draw attention to the actions of our opponents, who are naturally interested in subversive activities in the BRICS camp. Brazil is an example of such actions. The BRICS immunity to such actions is an important issue that should be taken into consideration in the long run.
