BRICS is an international organization consisting of five countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Previously the group was known as BRIC, formalized in 2006. Since the joining of South Africa in 2011, the acronym changed to BRICS. The nations meet annually at summits.
In 2001, British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
Its chairmanship is rotated annually in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
The organization has gained significance because of the global recession in 2008. To understand the grouping, consider G20 distributed into two factions, i.e., developed countries represented by G7 and developing countries represented by BRICS.
For the article on G7 – click here
Discussions between BRICS countries
The BRICS members are developing or newly industrialized countries where the discussion relates to political and social-economic coordination. They identify several business opportunities too.
2021 Summit – Key takeaways
- To reform the UN Security Council.
- Commitment to Paris Agreement (Climate cooperation)
- Agricultural cooperation
- Promote Green tourism
- Intra – BRICs trade
- Adopted Counter-Terrorism Plan
- Discussions on stability in Afghanistan (as well as disputes in Myanmar, Syria, Israel-Palestine, the Korean peninsula, etc.)
- Covid related issues
Significance
These countries comprise 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the territory, and 18% of the global trade with a combined GDP of USD 16 trillion (22 % of the world’s total Gross Domestic Product).
New Development Bank
It is a development bank operated by the BRICS states, which is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Each participant country is assigned one vote here, and none have veto power (unlike the World Bank, where votes are based on capital share).
The Bank helps mobilize resources for infrastructure and development projects in emerging economies for global growth and development.
