While the global headwinds beat Brics Member States, can it stay the course? | Opinion



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The priorities and themes of the 10th Brics Summit, ranging from peacekeeping to collaboration around the Fourth Industrial Revolution, provide a number of questions that summit leaders say they want to pursue

. meetings held by the Foreign Ministers of Brazil, China, India and Russia (Brics) since 2006. South Africa formally acceded in 2011.

The reconciliation of national and international interests priorities with international obligations will remain a fundamental objective of this meeting.
But perhaps the most critical question to ask is how the bloc will strengthen its role and agenda in an international order characterized by fragmentation and uncertainty.

Over the past 10 years, Brics partners have launched a number of initiatives to provide additional capabilities to global, political and economic governance structures. One of his projects included the creation of the new development bank. At the end of 2017, the Bank provided $ 3.4 billion in funding to member countries.

In addition, Brics has created a quota reserve mechanism to ensure the liquidity of Member States when they face short-term. balance of payments crisis.

With these institutions in place, the summit offers the five countries an opportunity to reflect on the practical relevance of the bloc and its future footprint. Skepticism about the consistency of the Brics as a functional group persists. But it's a safe bet that the five countries will not regress in their obligations. To retreat now would be an admission that the cynics are always right.

The Brics bloc will also want to badert its authority because of growing uncertainties in global political affairs. Two of its members, China and Russia, are caught in the sights of a belligerent state of the United States. This makes it a particularly important moment to cement the role of the Brics

What is the next step for the Brics?

Brides should not be romanticized. It is an imperfect construction given the size and scale of its member states.

Interesting new nuances affect the positioning of China, India and Russia. Among these are two new alliances: alliances between the five countries and the China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the reconfiguration of the channels that connect China to Asia, Africa and Africa. Europe

The Brics block also consists of subgroups playing an important role in influencing loyalties and strategic interests in the group. There is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, established in 2001. It is considered an intergovernmental organization that deals with energy and security and is composed of China, Russia and China. six republics of Central Asia. It has been characterized as the counterweight to the US influence in Central Asia. Other commentators identify it as a counterweight to the G7, a block made up of the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and the United States. Great Britain.

Then there is the trilateral cooperation bloc India, Brazil and South Africa. established in 2003.

Cooperation between Russia, India and China has also become important. In April 2016, their foreign ministers met to deepen their cooperation around a global governance agenda. Similarly, relations between China and Russia are strengthening. All this will inform how Brics is developing from now on.

The IRB has already sparked disagreements. In the run-up to the ninth Brics Summit held in China, Indian delegates attending the Fuzhou Academic Forum were strongly opposed to the idea of ​​anchoring the Beijing-led BIS in the future.

Another source of possible Brics membership extension through the concept Brics over. At the 2013 Durban Summit, South Africa initiated the Brics Proximity Partnership, an inclusion channel for key partners on the African continent.

Last year, China remodeled the Brics Plus partnership, which has a broader perspective. a wide range of players from emerging markets and the developing world.

The transition from the traditional neighborhood partnership to Brics Plus could be interpreted as a test of the possible expansion of Brics members.

But India seems to be uncomfortable with the concept of Brics Plus, especially a reconfiguration of If the collective identity of the Brics block is still being put At the test, the cracks that prevail in the global system present opportunities to badert and strengthen its position. It can do so by upholding the principles of liberal multilateral trade agreements that the United States seems to want to dump.

The important question will be: how and to what extent will Brics take the next step by subscribing to the rules of the game in an international order seeking leadership and direction? – The Conversation

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