Valdai Club

On December 20, at 15.00, the Valdai Discussion Club will host a discussion dedicated to the priorities of Russia in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in 2020. 

On January 1, 2020, the Russian Federation will replace Brazil as the chair of BRICS. During the BRICS summit in Brazil, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the country’s major goals in the position: expanding standards and the quality of life in each of the five countries, deepening their strategic interaction, and developing their cooperation in financial and economic matters, introducing new joint high-tech projects.

Since the first BRICS summit in 2009, the unification of countries has come a long way from defining its goals and developing a common position on some regional issues to deepening integration processes and creating a New Development Bank. This is a significant step, because the influence of BRICS on the international scene is predicated on the growing economic power of its member states, on their importance as being among the key driving forces for the development of the global economy, their large population, and their abundance of natural resources.

What will Russia’s leadership in BRICS imply? What are the political and economic prospects for unification? Will the integration of the BRICS countries deepen in the coming years? Will the organisation achieve its economic goals by 2050? These and other questions will be addressed by the experts. 

• Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation;
• Sergey Afontsev, Deputy Director for Research and Head of the Economic Theory Department at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

• Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

Working languages: Russian, English.