BRICS: Everything is Going as it Should

The BRICS countries want to adjust the global arrangement in such a way that will allow them to occupy a befitting place in the system of global management and distribution of wealth. All BRICS countries are interested in this and are united by the rejection of the status quo.

The 6th BRICS Summit opens in Fortaleza, Brazil on July 15. First and foremost, the establishment of a Development Bank and a pool of conventional currency reserves are expected at the summit. It is likely to boost trade and may move forward with specific projects, such as oil and gas supplies to India. There are also grounds to expect more attention to cultural and educational aspects of cooperation.

Although a common roadmap for further integration of the BRICS nations does not yet exist, Russia, which is preparing to chair BRICS in 2015, is already discussing some ideas for the future. Some of its proposals have to do with invigorating BRICS contacts with the rest of the world, and not only in politics and the economy but also culture and education.

Other proposals concern the goals for which BRICS was established: the reform of the international financial and economic architecture and development of a multi-polar system of international relations. The prospects for BRICS itself are also part of the discourse. There is a proposal to supplement the existing format with meetings of its ministers of culture and education, and heads of emergency services.

It is important to realize that the BRICS economies are very diverse. The BRICS countries are exporters of both raw materials and industrial products, and if they supplemented each other better they would be able to move forward more quickly with their own plans. At the same time, they have had no major disagreements on strategic issues of global financial architecture. The only difference is that China and Russia would like to move ahead more quickly than India and Brazil do.

It is difficult to speak about a common political and economic course for BRICS because its members are major self-sufficient countries, in fact, great powers. They are fated to pursue independent policies and will never allow anyone to restrict their sovereignty. At the same time, the BRICS countries have a lot in common, including common interests that primarily manifest themselves in the rejection of the US-centered world in global policy and finances.

The BRICS countries want to adjust the global arrangement in such a way that will allow them to occupy a befitting place in the system of global management and distribution of wealth. All BRICS countries are interested in this and are united by the rejection of the status quo.

It's not only BRICS countries that think in this way. Three out of the five states supported Argentina’s accession to BRICS.

Argentina is a powerful country, and it would be good to have it in BRICS. It is still unknown whether it will go through a default, and in any case it will be interesting to see how BRICS will use the mechanisms of the currently established Development Bank and Reserve Fund to help Argentina.

If these mechanisms are used successfully, the IMF will lose its monopoly on the issue of loans for states in trouble, and the countries that prevail in it will find out that their leading positions have lost much of their value. It would be a mistake to think that Argentina will be accepted in BRICS to test the Five’s new opportunities and financial might, but there it hardy a better moment for demonstrating its power.

In recent years many experts have noted that the BRICS countries have slowed down, especially in terms of economic growth. This is partly due to the consequences of the global crisis, which continues to restrict demand for exports, and partly because of the average income trap.

BRICS may perhaps seem less dynamic to observers, but the interests of its members have not changed with the slowdown of economic growth, and their aggregate political and economic might has not decreased either. So everything is going as it should.

Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.