BRICS as a Future-oriented Association

Today, no one has any doubt that we are witnessing tectonic shift of the world order that is acquiring an equitable, democratic, multipolar nature. More and more countries of the Global South are pursuing independent course policies, defend their fundamental national interests as well as their sovereignty and identity. This tendency has led to a surge of interest towards BRICS. As a result, an important decision has been made to invite six countries, including Ethiopia, to join the association starting from January 1, 2024.

This decision, made at the 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2023, marks the beginning of a new stage of the development of the association. It will also define a main vector of further development of the BRICS member countries for the coming years and, of course, give a powerful impetus to the qualitative improvement of their bilateral and multilateral relations. So, it would be useful once again to recall what this association represents.

BRICS is an interstate group presently comprising Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa. These countries are influential members of various international fora such as UN, G20, WTO, Non-Aligned Movement, Group of 77 and organizations of regional cooperation, i.e. Shanghai Cooperation Organization, African Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian Economic Union, MERCOSUR etc. But BRICS is an association of a new type, where there are no leaders and followers, no teachers and students, no better ones. It has long established itself as a democratic platform where interaction is built on principles of equality, mutual respect and support, while all the decisions are adopted basing on consensus.

The expansion of BRICS, as well as the desire of more than two dozen states to establish special relations with the association, clearly demonstrates aspiration of the overwhelming majority of countries to develop fair and mutually beneficial cooperation without dictate from the outside.

BRICS, as a platform for coordinating different approaches and elaborating mutually acceptable solutions, provides states of the Global South with opportunities to ensure their rightful place in the emerging multipolar world architecture. This, in fact, is the essence of the future-oriented strategic course of BRICS that meets the interests of most of the international community.

The growing influence of BRICS goes hand in hand with its increasing economic potential. The share of the BRICS countries, which are home to more than three billion people, has reached almost 26% of the global GDP. In terms of purchasing power parity, they have a combined GDP larger than that of the G7. Forecast for 2023 is 31.5% and 30% respectively. With the new members, the contribution of BRICS to the world economy might increase up to 37%. The enlarged association will constitute 46% of the planet's population, 25% of global exports (merchandise trade), and 43% of oil production.

The multifaceted strategic partnership within BRICS is based on three key pillars –politics and security, economics and finance, culture and humanitarian ties. The BRICS states continue to facilitate closer collaboration among them, and their joint work is bringing concrete and tangible results. More and more new joint infrastructure and investment projects are launched, commodity exchanges are growing, and contacts in different sectors of economy are intensively expanding. There is an active cooperation between the states’ parliaments, city administrations, business, academic and scientific circles, civil society, youth, women and the media. In addition to summits, more than 20 dialogue formats function within the association.

The spheres of interaction cover a wide variety of areas, such as energy efficiency, climate change, food and energy security, poverty reduction. Special emphasis is made on the economic component of the partnership, in particular the implementation of the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025. Cooperation is being stepped up in different fields such as diversification of supply chains, de-dollarization and transition to national currencies in mutual payments, digital economy, small and medium-sized enterprises support, fair technology transfer. Efforts are being exerted to develop common approaches to reforming the international financial architecture, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with the aim of increasing the role of developing countries.

A lot of attention is paid to cooperation in the fields of science, education, innovation, information and communication technologies. Priority areas also include joint work to counter new challenges and threats, including anti-terrorist cooperation and anti-money laundering. There are different promising areas of partnership, such as nuclear medicine and peaceful space exploration.

There is no doubt that Ethiopia will be able to benefit a lot from cooperation in the aforementioned spheres within BRICS, facilitate its economic growth and voice the country's and the continent's interests and development priorities as well as forge solid and lasting diplomatic cooperation with other members of association.

In 2024, the chairmanship of BRICS will pass over to Russia. My country plans to hold nearly 200 political, economic and social events, which will be hosted by over a dozen Russian cities. As the BRICS’ chairman, Russia intends to do its best to contribute to the implementation of the decisions made at the Johannesburg Summit, including those related to the expansion of BRICS, as well as to bolster the countries’ strategic partnership in all areas.

In conclusion, BRICS is a unique platform within which states can realize their goals and find reliable partners. Moreover, the wide geography of the association and its friends contributes greatly to the harmonization of the world system, which suffered for many years from individual states’ claims to hegemony. Aimed at resolving collectively the pressing issues of the global agenda, based on compliance with international law, true multilateralism and respect for the interests of the world majority, BRICS is providing a significant input to the formation of a new model of international relations pursuing creation of a truly democratic and equitable world order.