The XVth BRICS Summit was a big event in international life. Judge for yourself: 67 high-ranking politicians from African states and other countries of the "Global South", 20 representatives of international organizations, including the UN, the African Union, as well as various internal economic unions of Africa were invited. Only one invited guest, French President Macron, who was very much requested to participate in the forum, was turned away. The message of Macron's non-receipt of the invitation is clear: former colonial rulers are unwelcome guests at this summit.
The alliance was officially formed in 2009 with its first summit, and South Africa joined in 2011 forming BRICS. In 2015, the group founded the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai. According to its website, it has so far approved $32.8 billion in financing for 96 projects in member countries.
The result of the current BRICS summit was the final declaration called «Johannesburg-2», which impressed the whole world - in January 2024, six countries will join the organization at once: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Yes, it is quite obvious that all these countries are at different levels of political and economic development, and immediately the West started talking that the inclusion of such heterogeneous countries in BRICS would not make the organization powerful. There were even sarcastic remarks that it was a «union of the poor," although it is clear that the new members, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, can't be called "poor" in any way. Even the problems were predicted to be exacerbated by the entry of six new countries in addition to the existing five. But in fact, this is more the fear of the West, which does not yet understand how to build relations with the new union. However, they are beginning to realize that they will have to reckon with a new influential force. After all, taking into account the new members of BRICS, the combined GDP of the association will reach 37% of the global GDP, and the countries that make up the new union are home to 46% of the world's population. As Brazilian President Lula da Silva stated, the union will become «the driver of a new world order.»
Yes, all these countries are different, but they have one thing in common - they are not satisfied with the existing world order. That is why one of the issues discussed at the summit was the need to increase the representation of developing countries in the UN Security Council. After all, the post-war system has led to the fact that the new world order was in the hands of the USA and its satellites, and there is an urgent need for an alternative to the international order formed after 1945, which was dominated by the USA and Europe. Obviously, this does not suit the developing countries when six of the 15 members of the Security Council are subject to Washington's will.
Before the summit, the Western press reported that India was very cautious about accepting new members, fearing the strengthening of China's influence. But, as it turned out, these contradictions were smoothed over, as the leaders of both India and China - both recognized at press conferences that the accession of six countries at once strengthens BRICS.
Even such a "difficult question" as what will the new association be called now? Well, for example, BRICSFUIOSE. Yes, if we added the first letters of the new states to the abbreviation, we would have gotten some abracadabra. But even this issue was resolved without any problems, it was agreed to keep just BRICS, because it is already a recognizable brand. And the newly joined countries did not take offense: why are we not in the name?
It must be recognized that this summit was held in such a benevolent atmosphere filled with a spirit of trust, which is rare between countries with such different economic, political, religious and historical backgrounds. The main thing that unites them is the desire to prevent the West from enriching itself at the expense of the resources of developing countries and to establish a just world order.
«All of us are in favor of a new multipolar world order that would be truly balanced and take into account the sovereign interests of the widest possible range of states, open up opportunities for the implementation of different development models, helping to preserve the diversity of national cultures and traditions,» Vladimir Putin said. He also noted that BRICS is not competing with anyone and does not oppose anyone. «But it is also obvious that this objective process - the process of creating a new world order - still has irreconcilable opponents seeking to slow down this process, to hold back the establishment of new independent centers of development and influence in the world,» he said.
That is, BRICS is developing not as an alliance hostile to the West, but as an association of countries that have the right to their own way of development without being forced into ultra-liberalism and a unipolar world.
It is obvious that the expansion of BRICS to 11 countries at this stage is beneficial for all members of the union - it allows creating a common market and removing obstacles to mutual trade, one of which is the U.S. system of mutual settlements in dollars. After the White House cut Russia off from dollar settlements after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, many developing countries realized that it was necessary to get away from the dollar system. From U.S. control over international trade.
One of the main driving forces behind the new world currency that BRICS is about to create is the growing dissatisfaction with the hegemony of the dollar and the United States' use of it as an instrument of political and economic coercion. With the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict, the trend towards de-dollarization gained momentum again, especially after the United States banned Russian banks from using SWIFT and froze about $300 billion of Russia's foreign exchange reserves. Because of this move, many states began to fear that Washington would continue to use its monetary unit as a weapon against anyone unwilling to submit to the dictatorship of the West.
Another reason for de-dollarization is the U.S. economy itself. At 132.3% of nominal GDP in March 2021, U.S. government debt remains at a record high. In addition, rising interest rates and the country's current «debt ceiling crisis» have prompted many developing nations to seek alternative reserve currencies due to concerns about dollar-denominated bonds.
Perhaps that's why central banks have been increasing gold reserves at a record pace: Singapore (51.4 tons), Turkey (45.5 tons), China (39.8 tons), Russia (31.1 tons) and India (2.8 tons), all of which bought the most gold in the first two months of this year.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund's COFER (Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserve) database reports that the dollar's share of global foreign exchange reserves has fallen below 59% - its lowest level in 25 years. According to leading currency analyst Stephen Jen, the greenback's dominance as a reserve currency has waned ten times faster in the past year than in the past two decades. All the signs of dedollarization are already showing, and thus countries are preparing for the new reserve currency. Back in 2022, during a meeting of the BRICS countries, President Vladimir Putin said that BRICS intends to create an «international reserve currency». And now the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have instructed their finance ministries and central banks to consider the possibility of launching payment instruments and platforms based on national currencies.
«There is a global movement towards the use of local currencies as a financial settlement alternative and alternative payment systems. As BRICS, we are ready to seize opportunities to improve the global financial architecture,» said South African leader Cyril Ramaposa at the end of the BRICS summit, which took place August 22-24, 2023.
And the BRICS Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, has already expanded its client base to include Uruguay, Egypt, UAE and Bangladesh.
No, of course, this does not mean that a currency will be created with which BRICS citizens will pay each other. There will be a certain unit of account, linked to the dollar, with which the BRICS countries will be able to make mutual settlements. The economic unification of the BRICS countries will allow them to more effectively develop joint cross-border projects by financing them from the BRICS Bank. After all, developing countries account for 60% of the GDP of all nations and they want to develop without the dictates of the United States. So why should the states, home to 85% of the world's population, do the will of the West? And they proved that they shouldn't when they refused to follow the US policy in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The «Global South» refused to side with Washington and join the economic and political blockade of Russia.
Thus, BRICS has become not only an economic but also a political mouthpiece of developing countries. And its expansion was a great victory for Russia, as it showed that the times when the U.S. and the West could lead the entire world were a thing of the past.
And the Johannesburg summit is just the beginning of the BRICS expansion, with 40 nations already expressing interest in joining the bloc, which they see as an alternative to Western-led international organizations.