2023-08-21 12:00:00
[Article publié le 21 août 2023 à 14h00 et mis à jour à 16h20] The top of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa)a group of countries that intends to act as a counterweight to Western influence, will take place this week from Tuesday August 22 to Thursday August 24 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The bloc, which produces almost a quarter of the world’s wealth (23%) and gather 42% of the global population, demands a multipolar global economic and political balance, particularly with regard to the United States and the European Union.
Heads of State of Brazil, Luiz Ignatius Lula da Silva, and from China, Xi Jinping, will be present. The latter left his country on Monday August 21 in the direction of South Africa, indicated an official media. His stay in the African country will be his second foreign trip of the year, following a visit to Russia in March. As for Russian President Vladimir Putin, under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine, he will participate by videoconference. Russia will be represented by its Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrovand India by its Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Towards a potential enlargement of the BRICS
Fifty heads of state friends of Brics are also expected at the summit, which runs until Thursday, August 24. The theme of the meeting is ” THE BRICS and Africa “. On the agenda for this year’s Johannesburg summit will be a possible expansion of BRICS.
« The theme reflects our belief in the benefits of Africa’s partnership with BRICS can bring long term », a declared during a press briefing last week And the lady Pandorathe Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa.
Africa is a new diplomatic issue for the West, Russia and China who are vying for influence in a context of divisions stoked by the conflict in Ukraine and tensions between China and the United States. Growing BRICS membership might lend more weight to the bloc and its message of global reform.
In an “increasingly complex and fractured because more and more polarized in competing camps”, according to Cyril RamaphosaTHE Brics consider welcoming new members to extend their influence.
Potential candidates
About 40 countries have applied for membership or expressed an interest in joining the group, including Iran, Argentina, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. Among these countries, nearly twenty have applied for official admission.
Iran and Venezuela, under sanctions, seek to reduce their isolation and hope that the bloc can relieve their crippled economies. ” Other existing integration frameworks at the global level are blinded by the hegemonic vision of the US government Ramón Lobo, Venezuela’s former finance minister and central bank governor, told Archyde.com.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates see in the BRICS a way to play a bigger role in global forums, analysts say. As for Ethiopia and Nigeria, they are attracted by the bloc’s commitment to reforms in the United Nations that would give more weight to the African continent.
Still other countries want changes in the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. ” Argentina has urged a reconfiguration of the international financial architecture “, told Archyde.com an official of the Argentinian government involved in the negotiations for accession to the BRICS.
Although no official list of candidates has been disclosed by the BRICS, the leaders of the bloc countries should discuss a framework for admitting new members.
Reshuffling the World Order Cards
The potential candidates share a common goal: to create a new world order that works for them. And many see the possibility of integrating the BRICS as a way to achieve this goal. Because since the creation of the group, the promise of the BRICS to pose as a great defender of the “Global South” has met with a favorable reception.
“The objective need for a group like the BRICS has never been bigger,” said former South African trade and industry minister Rob Davies, who helped his country join the bloc in 2010. “Multilateral bodies are not places where we can go and get fair and inclusive results.”
“South Africa supports expanding the membership of Brics to countries “which share the common desire to have a more balanced world order”, underlined the South African president.
Will the reality live up to the hopes?
However, observers have reservations. Some point to a disappointing record which they say does not bode well for the BRICS’ ability to answer questions from potential members. ” They may have inflated expectations that adherence to BRICS will bring in practice said Steven Gruzd of the South African Institute of International Affairs.
On the eve of the opening of this 15th BRICS summit, the group’s weaknesses are at the center of attention. Members of the bloc have long struggled with internal divisions and a lack of cohesive vision. Even today, if China and Russia want to go ahead with the expansion of the bloc, other members of BRICS, notably Brazil, are worried regarding the process being rushed.
Moreover, China’s once prosperous economic situation is now slowing down. As for Russia, the country has been in a situation of isolation since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Spectacular growth
Smaller countries hoping for an economic boost from membership might take a cue from South Africa’s experience, whose trade with BRICS have grown steadily since joining, according to an analysis by the country’s Industrial Development Corporation.
However, this growth is largely driven by imports from China, and the bloc still accounts for only a fifth of South Africa’s total bilateral trade. Brazil and Russia together absorb only 0.6% of its exports and, in 2022, South Africa’s trade deficit with its partners in the BRICS quadrupled from 2010 to $14.9 billion. ” Such results should make candidate countries think said Steven Gruzd.
“It is difficult to find concrete achievements for BRICS. Lots of talk, far less action. »
South Africa says it resists pressure over Moscow
“We will not allow ourselves to be drawn into a competition between world powers,” South African Head of State Cyril Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation broadcast live on television. “Our country is committed to a policy of non-alignment”.“We have resisted pressure to align ourselves with either world power or influential blocs of nations,” he added.
The president refers to the fact that Pretoria refuses to condemn Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, claiming to favor the path of dialogue and thus attracting criticism from the international scene.
(With agencies)
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