The BRICS summit in Kazan chaired by Russia has drawn nice worldwide consideration as a result of it conveys many messages within the present geopolitical context and that of the longer term.
The West has tried to isolate Russia internationally, defeat it militarily, and, by an array of draconian sanctions, trigger its financial collapse. None of those goals have been met.
Russia’s ties with China have deepened strategically. India has preserved its strategic ties with Moscow regardless of western strain. Russia’s ties with a number of African international locations even have a brand new momentum. Moscow is strongly current within the West Asia area and has a detailed relationship with key Arab international locations. Its partnership with some ASEAN international locations is gathering steam too.
The Expansion Of BRICS
The enlargement of BRICS in 2023, with Egypt, UAE, Iran, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, had already signalled how main international locations within the Global South seen Russia very in a different way from how the West noticed it. The Global South sees Russia as a pleasant nation, not an adversary. That virtually 40 international locations have proven curiosity in becoming a member of BRICS, a discussion board through which Moscow performs a key position, signifies that for them, Russia is a beautiful companion.
The international locations of the Global South search a reformed worldwide system that might mirror the shifts in energy equations away from the West, each financial and political, which have occurred over time. They need extra consideration to be paid to their issues and priorities.
The hypocrisy and double requirements of the West’s “values-based” insurance policies, its army interventions and using numerous means to result in regime adjustments, using sanctions as a coverage instrument, the weaponisation of the greenback and the worldwide monetary system by the US, have more and more pushed non-Western international locations to hedge themselves in opposition to western pressures by becoming a member of boards corresponding to BRICS. If Russia earlier appeared westwards, the West has turned its again on Russia, and now Russia is way more targeted on its Eurasian identification and is wanting eastwards.
Non-western international locations can not decide out of the prevailing worldwide system or create certainly one of their very own. What they hope to do is to vary the stability of energy inside the current system and reform it to make sure extra equality and fairness in its functioning. The Global South international locations, which even have shut relations with the West, are being attracted to hitch BRICS or affiliate with it with a purpose to improve their political, financial and safety choices.
With 24 world leaders having attended the Kazan summit, together with these of 5 founding members and the 4 new everlasting members, the West’s already failing efforts to isolate President Putin and Russia have been strongly rebuffed.
More Members May Bring Complications
With a lot curiosity in BRICS within the Global South, the query of increasing its membership and the standards for which have posed difficulties. BRICS is a consensus-based discussion board. With the enlargement, constructing a consensus on points would change into harder, and that might have an effect on the working and credibility of the discussion board.
Already, the assembly of the BRICS Foreign Ministers in June 2024 at Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, additionally attended by the 4 new members, couldn’t problem a joint communiqué due to variations on sure factors.
President Putin has himself publicly recognised the draw back to any additional enlargement when he famous that the prevailing members have now labored collectively for years and understand how the discussion board features, and that the method of absorbing the brand new members into the strategies and spirit of the discussion board would be the rapid focus, not its enlargement.
The choice, subsequently, has been to not broaden the BRICS membership for the second however to enlarge its base by accepting new international locations as companions. Developing a consensus inside BRICS on which international locations ought to be admitted as companions was presumably not a straightforward train, as all of the BRICS members, previous and new, had efficient veto rights. It needed to be ensured that no member nation was notably advantaged by the selection of companions and that the ultimate checklist mirrored a stability between the preferences of the discussion board’s members.
A Wide Spread
Thirteen new BRICS companions have been accepted at Kazan—Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. That 4 members of the ASEAN are additionally amongst these is important. Algeria, a lot to its disappointment, couldn’t change into a member when BRICS was expanded final yr, however has now obtained companion standing. Two key Central Asia international locations have change into companions too. Other Central Asian international locations might clearly not be included as that might have weighed an excessive amount of within the favour of Russia’s pursuits. Already, the inclusion of Belarus is a transparent Russian choice. The geographical unfold of the brand new companion international locations is noteworthy.
Russia’s apparent choice for Turkey has additionally been accommodated given the latter’s geopolitical significance for Russia, though giving a companion standing to a NATO nation won’t appear to suit into any regular standards for deciding BRICS partnerships. Should NATO get a foothold in BRICS? From the Russian viewpoint, this is able to be a welcome political growth in NATO’s japanese flank. The US, which sees BRICS as an organisation created to rival the West within the world system, could be clearly perturbed by Turkey’s choice.
Why Pakistan Was Kept Away
It would appear that China has not exercised its personal particular geopolitical preferences too visibly. If it was fascinated about Pakistan’s inclusion, because it might properly have been—if one would recall, it had linked India’s SCO membership with that of Pakistan—it could have run into India’s robust opposition. In September 2024, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexey Overchuk, whereas visiting Pakistan, had supported its inclusion in BRICS whereas additionally stating that such a call must be based mostly on a consensus. India clearly scotched any transfer to achieve out to Pakistan, to the purpose that Pakistan doesn’t appear to have been invited to the summit.
India had reservations about Turkey turning into a companion due to its anti-Indian positions on Kashmir within the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in addition to its position in blocking India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Eventually, India didn’t stand in the best way of Turkey turning into a BRICS companion.
The final BRICS summit had accredited the membership of Saudi Arabia, however it has not formally conveyed its acceptance. It was represented on the Kazan summit by its Foreign Minister. The Saudi Crown Prince obtained US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh whereas the summit was being held in Kazan, which tells its personal story.
Do Not Overestimate
The significance of BRICS’ expanded partnerships throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America shouldn’t be underestimated. It reveals dissatisfaction with the present worldwide system. Non-western international locations need an finish to the West’s hegemony. They undergo from the West’s self-centred and arbitrary insurance policies. Strengthened multilateralism mirrored in multipolarity is seen as the important thing to vary.
At the identical time, the tempo at which BRICS can result in this alteration shouldn’t be exaggerated. The objectives of BRICS in forging options to the dollar-dominated monetary system usually are not simple to attain. Within the BRICS international locations, there are rivalries and divisions. Their political programs differ. Some are deeply anti-West, whereas others have pleasant ties with the West even once they search extra space for themselves in a West-dominated world system. The financial disparities inside the group are giant. The insurance policies of some each assist and harm the pursuits of the Global South.
All stated and executed, BRICS enlargement, with all its challenges, is a car for a much-needed re-balancing inside the world system, which India additionally seeks.
(Kanwal Sibal was Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, and Deputy Chief Of Mission in Washington.)
Disclaimer: These are the private opinions of the creator