18th BRICS SUMMIT:OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

 

EVOLUTION OF BRICS 

Although the idea of BRIC was originally mooted by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O Niell in 2001to highlight the global prospect of fast growing markets of economies like Brazil, Russia, India and China, the first meeting was held 2006 in New York and after that first summit was held in Russia in 2009.South Africa joined in 2010- 11,making the group as BRICS. and by 2024 -25 the organization was expanded with the new entry of  countries like Iran,Egypt. Ethiopia, the  UAE,and Indonesia . As of now the  BRICS + countries are able to design policies and strategies to bolster global supply Chains  boost resilience against pandemic and climate change. Leaders are also voicing concerns against weaponisation of currencies and tariffs, weaponisation of critical minerals and technology. 

18th BRICS SUMMIT 

The 18th BRICS Summit was  hosted by India on 12-13 September 26  amidst crucial geopolitical risks and uncertainties. Of course the block has expanded drastically since it's first meeting in 2006,enabling  it further to make itself  position as a multipolar alternative against western dominated institutions and policies, by wayof asserting greater economic weight and broader claims in order  to represent global South. However,  bigger size and massive population also carries inherent challenges namely internal rivalries ,geopolitical tensions and structural uncertainties etc. With expanding BRICS membership and  more geopolitical competitions  18 th summit was expected to indicate  the limits of global block in order to achieve consensus amid divisions within  the group.It is acknowledged that multipolarity can expand opportunities for EMDEs to develop  their contrived potential  to provide universally beneficial, inclusive, sustainable and economically globalisation and cooperation.The success of the summit can be measured in terms of the degree of participation by members and their  involvement in terms of reducing geopolitical, economic, climatic and energy issues and uncertainties facing the humanity. 

OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGES 

It is  great opportunity and challenge for India to host BRICS 's  18th  Summit in NewDelhi Bharat Mandapam. This is the 4th BRICS summit held in India. The theme of  the present summit was "Building for Reselience,Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability. Leaders from 11 member countries-Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia participated in the Summit.It has been estimated that BRICS accounted for half of global population, 40 % of global GDP and 40 % of world resources. Key pillars of  Innovation intended to promote digital public infrastructure ,emerging technologies, fintech, AI, and knowledge sharing enables  prospects for inclusive and future ready growth. Deepenig cooperation leads to multilateral engagement among BRICS members through enhanced policy coordination, development finance, trade facilitation,reforms in global institutional governance and people centric partnerships. Resilience  meant strengthening  Economic, social, and institutional Resilience to navigate global uncertainties, supply chain disruptions, AI challenges, health challenges and climate risks.Sustainability refers to accelerating collective efforts toward climate action,green finance,energy transitions and sustainable development aligned  with national  and global priorities.

New  Delhi Declaration calls for reform of Global Governance. It explicitly back comprehensive reform of UN Security Council (UNSC)  for enabling greater role and representation of developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America particularly for India and Brazil.It stressed the need  to protect civilians and expressed deep  concern over attacks over  civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities.Imposition of unilateral coercive measue  by countries that are against international law which leads to human and  economic  sanctions and secondary sanctions with far reaching implications for human rights violations. Reform of present defunct WTO  for strengthening a nondicriminatory open equitable  transparent g  fairer ,inclusive  rule based multilateral trading system is indispensable,  instead of unilateral tariff and non tariff policies  adopted  by hegomonic power.We can also build a troika system with G 20 ,road map of a Global  Governance system, a seafarer distress  network and BRICS global South mechanism  for skill development in new technologies .In effect BRICS can play very vibrant and dynamic role in South South Cooperation for emerging market and developing economies. demanding higher inclusion.Supportive measures are required to  make MSMEs to move up towards  the global value chains. Global South can become instrumental to promote a more just,sustainable, inclusive representative and stable international  rule and international lawAlready BRICS declaration made a call for reform of the UN Security Council and the support for a greater role for both India and Brazil  has been increasing and eventually it may result in positive outcome.According to Jeffrey Sachs USA's weaponisation of dollar and Swift Payments system will be replaced to  a multicurrency system replacing the dominance of US dollar

Economically  the UNCTAD study on two decades of Intra- BRICS Trade showed that 10 BRICS countries- Brazil,India, China  Russia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia  Iran and UAE have grown in strength in advancing trade and diplomatic relations within the global South  which makes  the desirability of cross border payments in local currencies.Merchandise exports by BRICS countries accounted for 25% in 2024,Among BRICS China exported $ 500 billion worth of goods in 2024,and remaining 9 countries wwithinthe range of $80 billion to $180 billion. Under Russian Chairmanship in 2024 Russia attempted for Dedolarisation but experience has shown that payment mechanism in local currencies  while trading in goods across countries are more feasible than  attempting for Dedolarisation which will automatically take place in the long run.ln any case Bharat Mandapam summit was a great achievement to India in terms of bringing together and taking countries like India and China Iran and UAE ,and Russia and Ukraine  together which may be instrumental in maintaining global peace  growth and development in future. 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS 

18th BRICS Summit expressed great concern about weaponisation of tariff ,called for   carbon border adjustment mechanism and fairer trade rules. It calls for zero tolerance of cross border terrorism.It urges the immediate restoration of fully functioning WTO dispute settlement system, Expansion of UN security Council with due representation for countries like India and Brazil. The existing structure of global governance resembles a pyramid where decision making powers are highly concentrated .Global Governance reforms  would  give the global South  bigger voice instead of dominance by traditional powers.Reform of IMF, World Bank and dispute settlement System of WTO  require immediate attention. Similarly In cross border trade and financial investments extensive  usage of local currencies are advocated so as to minimize undue dependence on global reserve currency. Extensive use of fintech products like UPI,CBDC and usage other digital infrastructure facilities  will not only reduce  the transaction costs but also accelerate the speed of transactions.The declaration adopted to expand BRICS Bank - New Development Bank (NDB) comprise of the new financing mechanism to support infrastructural development of Global South. Along with BRICS agenda  India also attempted to make good rapport with countries like Russia, Brazil,China, UAE,Iran etc for the resilience of the group and global economy. Despite  inherent differences BRICS are moving forward together urging a shift in traditional power equations to that of one mainly driven by emerging economies. Let us hope that if BRICS remain literally together it is bound to create greater  positive outcomes to global South, and  thereby to humanity as well .