BRICS – Quo Vadis? (Liviu Mureșan)

Dr Liviu Mureșan, President EURODEFENSE Romania, President-in-office 2025 of the EURODEFENSE Network

After the G7 Summit held in Canada, and the NATO Summit organised in Den Hague, The Netherlands, on 6-7 July, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro hosted the 17^th edition of the BRICS Summit. Until recently, only few analysts have dedicated their attention to this more and more important actor on the global stage, whereas now, the fact that China’s and Russia’s presidents did not participate in person has suddenly triggered a lot of interest and has almost hijacked the attention that should have been dedicated to analysing the content of the discussions. Some of the mainstream media and analysts estimated that this edition of BRICS, organised in Brasil, would be a less productive one.

The Summit in Rio de Janeiro foregrounded the importance of the South-South dialog, thus reflecting the strategic vision of BRICS in the pursuit of common interests in three main domains: political and security, economic and financial, cultural and people-to-people cooperation. All this even if each member state has its own agenda vis-à-vis its BRICS membership.

It is known that the first BRIC summit took place in 2009 with the participation of the leaders of Brasil, Russia, India, and China. One year later, South Africa joined the club, from then on referred to as “BRICS”. BRICS is now a new rising force, a voice at international level, while also providing a framework for multilateral exchanges among its members. In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates joined the group, and more recently also Indonesia as a new member. In addition to the official members, there are also partner countries such as Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstam, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, Uzbekistan. As a result of this growing interest, this year’s BRICS Summit was attended by over 30 countries, either as full members or as partners. With the new members, BRICS represents 45% of the world population and contributes 25% to global GDP.

In reality, however, country-to-country relationships are more complex and profound, with an impressive potential for development. As to China-Brasil relations, for instance, the 4^th Ministerial Meeting between China and the Latin American and Caribean States Forum was held in Beijing on the 13^th of May. What is less known is the fact that between 10 – 14 May, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva was on an official visit to China, accompanied by members of his Cabinet, members of the National Congress, as well as 200 business people. On this occasion, 20 Cooperation Agreements were signed. These bilateral developments in China-Brasil relations in various domains may have prompted India’s highlevel representation at the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where Narendra Mody stayed on for an official visit to Brasil with numerous bilateral meetings. These movements on the ground and bilateral events reflect the two giants’, China and India, competition for Latin America, while the US and the EU have been less present lately on this continent.

At the same time, the United States put a strong pressure both on BRICS and on Brasil. World Power Number One has been making efforts for maintaining the importance of the US dollar and discouraging the evolving dedollarisation process. For decades, the US dollar supported the position of US as the global leader in politics, economy and finance, as well as in security and defense, by turning finance into “a weapon of mass destruction”. The 17^th edition of the BRICS Summit has been threatened with sanctions by Donald Trump, who said that the “countries aligning themselves with the ‘anti-American policies of BRICS’ will be charged an additional 10% tarriffs”.

Although pre-Summit allegations suggested a movement towards introducing a common BRICS currency, “the Group has clarified that it does not intend to replace the US dollar, instead the objective is to develop alternative settlement mechanisms that promote greater market efficiency and foster a more inclusive and multipolar global financial system.” (Vajiram & Ravi, 11. 07. 2025)

Post-Summit developments include a proposal by Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor, Eduardo Paes, for Rio de Janeiro to become “BRICS diplomatic hub”. This is the headline of an article in South China Morning Post (12. 07. 2025), announcing the intention to start investments for providing headquarters for BRICS institutions, so that the bloc can pursue the main goals of its creation, namely “to promote economic cooperation, global governance and sustainable development among emerging and developing economies”.

In December 2025, the G20 Forum will be held in Pretoria, under the motto “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”. This will provide an opportunity for clarifying the commonalities and differences between G20 and BRICS goals and priorities, considering that 8 BRICS members are also members of G20.

As for BRICS, in 2026 it will be India’s turn to host the BRICS Summit. As in previous years, the country at the presidency tends to bring its own vision and agenda to the forefront, thus influencing the future development of the organisation. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already stated that “under India’s BRICS presidency, we will work to define BRICS in a new form. BRICS will mean Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability, in a spirit of people centricity and human first”.

In these times of uncertainty, it is evident that BRICS can no longer be ignored and that its expansion has opened up new paths towards multipolarity, while also triggering a number of questions, such as: “Will it become just another political grouping shaped by the ambitions of the few or will it transform [itself] into a genuine partnership for sustainable development? India’s role will be pivotal in shaping that answer.”  (Times of India, 12. 07. 2025).

If the 21^st century is seen as Asia’s Century, will we witness how the next period (2025-2035) is becoming the Decade of BRICS?