2023-08-23 13:05:27
BRICS leaders are assessing, this Wednesday, at the South Africa Summit, the rules for admitting new members to the bloc of developing countries, even as divisions over their future direction risk undermining their ambition to give the “Global South” more influence in the world.
The bloc’s heavyweights China and Russia – whose President Vladimir Putin is attending the meeting virtually – want to bolster the BRICS amid heightened tensions stemming from the war in Ukraine and Beijing’s growing rivalry with Washington.
They seek to take advantage of the August 22-24 summit in South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, to transform the group, which also includes Brazil and India, into a counterbalance to the West.
But long-standing divisions resurfaced on the first day of talks on Tuesday, notably voiced by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said the group should not try to rival the United States and the wealthy economies of the Group of Seven. .
Lula and his counterparts Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met for dinner and a mini-retreat on Tuesday night.
The issue of BRICS enlargement was at the top of the summit’s agenda and exposed the kinds of divergent views that have long plagued the group.
China and Russia are interested in expanding the BRICS to give the bloc more global influence. South Africa’s Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that his country’s position was similar to China’s.
Brazil, however, fears that the expansion of the BRICS will dilute its influence, although it wants to see neighboring Argentina join the bloc.
An Indian official familiar with Tuesday night’s discussions between the leaders said Modi indicated his country was open to expansion but “there must be ground rules on how this should happen and who can join”.
More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS, say South African officials. Of these, nearly two dozen have formally applied to be admitted.
While new members are not expected to be admitted to the BRICS during the summit, the leaders are mulling a framework and criteria for membership, the details of which could be included in a joint declaration due to be finalized on Wednesday.
In addition to the issue of enlargement, strengthening the use of Member States’ local currencies in commercial and financial transactions to reduce dependence on the US dollar is also on the agenda of the summit.
South African organizers say there will be no discussions on a common BRICS currency, an idea pioneered by Brazil as an alternative to dependence on the dollar.
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