Aovious : BRICS – The Core Agenda

Saturday 2 September 2017

BRICS – The Core Agenda

Why in news?

Ninth BRICS summit is going to be held in Xiamen, China.
China has invited Egypt, Kenya, Tajikistan, Mexico and Thailand as guest countries for the summit.

What is BRICS?

BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
BRICS countries represents 40% of the world population and account for 22% of global GDP.
Since 2009, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits.

What are the problems faced by the BRICS countries?

Bilateral relations among BRICS nations have mainly been conducted on the basis of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.
The future of this partnership has lately come under serious interrogation due to various internal and external problems experienced by them.
Brazil and South Africa have experienced prolonged internal instability.
Russia has had to face continuous distractions from Georgia, Ukraine and Syria to the current US sanctions.
Also, the recent China-India military standoff at Doklam became formidable stumbling block.
Hence, the theme of the current Summit “Stronger Partnership for Brighter Future” is very apt to the present situation for the group.

What is its agenda?

Originally, BRICS was envisioned to usher in reforms in the global financial governance.
At a broader level, it was to pursue democratisation of international relations and provide developing nations a greater say in global governance.
Of late, BRICS has drastically expanded its scope & become more of a political forum, thereby diluting its founding principles.
The expanded agenda now includes several non-financial issues from climate change and terror to women empowerment, human trafficking and so on.
While these issues are indeed pressing, experts allude that expansion of agenda takes a toll on efficacy.

What is the best path for BRICS?

Experts feel that focus should be on consolidation of the agenda and not expansion.
Creating a dedicated organisational structure with its own cadre of BRICS personnels should be prioritized.
To nourish cohesion and momentum, the organisation should be a mission oriented framework rather than being a vague conglomerate.
People to people contacts & co-operation in other fields shouldn’t dilute the core issues at hand.