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Changes in the global landscape call for a solidified, stronger BRICS with better contribution to global governance as the bloc of five emerging economies enters its second decade.
The 9th BRICS annual summit to be held in September in Xiamen, China is thus attracting worldwide attention to how Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will shape the bloc's future course amid challenges and uncertainties stemming from global economic sluggishness, increased anti-globalisation sentiments in Western countries, regional security and geopolitical black swans, among others.
The bloc representing some 44 percent of the world population and 23 percent of the world economic volume is striving towards a stronger identity, a leading platform for South-South co-operation and a larger role in global governance.
BRICS ministers of foreign affairs pose for a group photo during their meeting in Beijing, capital of China, earlier this year. Picture: Xinhua/Yan Yan
GROWING ROLE IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the acronym BRIC (made BRICS by South Africa's participation later), said the bloc's economic performance has exceeded his expectations.
"Sixteen years later the BRICS share of the global GDP (gross domestic product) is bigger than every scenario I projected," he noted.
Currently, the bloc's five economies together contribute more than half to global growth, serving as a major economic powerhouse.
"BRICS is at the centre of solutions needed for international financial system reform," said Sergey Karatayev, deputy head of the Center for Economic Research at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, citing the increased voting rights of China and India in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
"With the BRICS demands, many global governance structures are undergoing a gradual reform," commented Srikanth Kondapalli, professor at the Center of East Asia Studies under the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University.
"In the last eight summits, BRICS has acquired certain momentum in international relations," he added, highlighting the bloc's increasingly more unified voice in international affairs.
"It has advocated dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes, in addition to lifting any curbs on trade and investments," he said.
"It tries to protect the interests of developing countries," he added.
A BRICS credit rating agency to end the Western monopoly, with its establishment still under discussion, is expected to enable the bloc to contribute more to global economic governance.
LEADING PLATFORM FOR SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION
The two-year operation of the Shanghai-based BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), which focuses on infrastructure and sustainable development projects, is hailed as a success story, handing out 1.5 billion US dollars in loans last year alone.
The August 17 launch of its first regional office, in Johannesburg, signals a greater role it will assume in boosting growth in developing countries and promoting South-South co-operation.
The regional office will act as a "face to Africa" and the bank intends to open others, said NDB President KV Kamath.