Hamdi Abdel Aziz
Yesterday, Sunday, leaders of the BRICS met in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro to enhance trade and technological exchange and confront customs duties. Despite the group of half of the world’s population and 40% of the global economic output, as well as expansion of its membership, opinions conflict about its future, especially its ability to enhance the international economy and calm the increasing international conflicts.
The BRICS Group was established from 4 countries, which are Brazil, Russia, India and China, as they are rapidly growing economies and are able to become global economic powers by 2050. The number of the group’s countries has doubled to 10 countries.
In addition to the five fundamental countries, they joined the bloc, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
The group’s presidency is rotated periodically between members every year. 44 countries have made an official request to join. This year, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and Uzbekistan joined, in preparation for the official membership under the name Brics+
The BRICS countries control important markets in the world, including 40 % of global oil production, and according to the BRICS website, the group also controls about three quarters of rare ground materials, and exceeds trade exchange between member states trillion dollars. The BRICS countries have applied for 44 million patents between 2009 and 2023, more than half of all patents registered globally.
Many hopes hung on the top of Rio de Janeiro. Especially since the group’s mechanism has evolved from a preliminary economic concept to a comprehensive platform for cooperation. The summit discussed 6 main areas:
Global health cooperation and the launch of the “BRICS” partnership to eliminate diseases related to social factors and neglected tropical diseases.
Trade, Investment, Finance and the adoption of the 2030 strategy for economic partnership between the “BRICS” countries.
Climate change and declaring leadership framework for climate financing that aims to manage structural change in the financial sector.
Artificial Intelligence Governance to harness the capabilities of this technology in social, economic and environmental development.
A multilateral structure for peace and security to ensure effective measures in dealing with conflicts, preventing humanitarian disasters, and avoiding the outbreak of new crises?
Institutional development: improving the “BRICS” structure and enhancing its cohesion.
Conflict of opinions about the group’s strength, the leaders of the BRICS states suggested early to launch their own currency to the US dollar challenge, but progress remained slow. Member States are keen to diversify their economy away from relying on the US dollar. It is also an increasing percentage of its trade within the group using local currencies.
But opinions conflicting BRICS, so some analysts expect this bloc to develop to become a real challenge for global institutions led by the United States and the European Union, while others believe that internal divisions and conflicts of interest may hinder its progress. There are many challenges facing the group in light of the current global environment, especially in light of the consequences of American customs duties on the global economy and its growth, as well as geopolitical tensions in different regions of the world.
On the internal level, the opinions of member states are divided over whether the group’s expansion will enhance the influence of “BRICS” or weaken it in the current period. There is also a major economic disparity between the “BRICS” countries, which makes the idea of economic integration more difficult. “BRICS” depends on issuing decisions with consensus, in light of the absence of an institutional structure, such as a general secretariat of the group, which limits its ability to make unified and rapid decisions.
The positions of the members also vary towards Western countries, some of which have strong relations with the United States, such as India and Brazil, while Putin pointed out last year that the “Brix” summit confirms that a multi -polar world is being formed, in a challenge to the current global system dominated by the United States. Trump warned weeks of winning the elections of the group countries, and wrote in a publication on the “Truth Social” platform: “We ask for a commitment from these countries It will not launch a new currency for the “BRICS” group, and will not support any other currency to replace the strong US dollar, otherwise it will face 100%customs fees, and you must expect to bid farewell to the sale in the wonderful United States.
The closing statement of the summit, the summit, yesterday, Sunday, called on the leaders of the BRICS Group of negotiators to reach an unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to end the war of 22 months in it. “We urge all parties to engage in good faith in additional negotiations to achieve an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, “the group said in a joint declaration.
It also called for “the full withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and all other parts of the Palestinian territories.” The group expressed its “great concern” over the customs definitions, while the additional fees announced by US President Donald Trump are tension in the world. “We express our great concern about the increasing customs and non -customs procedures for trade,” the joint declaration said.
The statement said that the multi -party trade system has always been at a crossroads, and that the spread of procedures restricted to trade, whether in the form of random lifting of customs duties and non -customs measures, or protectionism under the guise of environmental goals, threatens to further reduce global trade, disrupt supply chains, and introduce a state of uncertainty in international economic and commercial activities.
He added that, based on the declaration of the second Johannesburg leaders of 2023, we reaffirm our support for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, with the aim of making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and increasing the representation of developing countries in the membership of the Council to be able to respond appropriately to the prevailing global challenges, and support the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including what is in That is the states of the Brexes Group, to play a greater role in international affairs, especially at the United Nations, including the Security Council. He pointed to the importance of the United Nations being at the center of any international effort to create a global governance framework for artificial intelligence, supporting capacity building in developing countries, and taking into account sovereign laws.
The requirements of influencing rise highlights a question, which is: Is “Brix” able to cause an international balance that improves the international economy and calms the atmosphere of global conflicts? The expansion of “BRICS” can lead to an increase in its geopolitical and economic influence, and gives it a greater diversity in resources and markets, and the group’s possession of financial institutions, including the “New Development Bank” to finance infrastructure and development projects in member states, and “Fund Cash reserves “will support member states to pay their debts and enhance their economies.
But it will not turn into a promising international force, except with a specific organizational structure and a general honesty to manage and coordinate its activities, in addition to addressing differences and tensions between some countries of the bloc, including: China, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The success of “BRICS” also requires cooperation to achieve political and economic stability within member states, and implement structural reforms in some national economies in order to enhance the ability of “BRICS” countries to compete global.
