BRICS time

Less than a month is left before the BRICS chairmanship passes to Russia — before the hard and not always rewarding work of forming a broader, but at the same time stronger team of like-minded people, searching for and building new meanings of unification based on previously laid down principles, while preserving what has been achieved and adapting directions work taking into account the interests of all members.

The fact that the number of countries invited to participate exceeded the number of previous participants in the “club” gives a special piquancy to the moment. Adaptation of one or at most two newcomers in itself will not be a trivial task and requires a deep study of the partner, political will for change and willingness to make sometimes quite serious compromises. The immediate accession of six independent, self-sufficient and very different countries to the “five” at once may seem extremely difficult in practical terms, if not impossible.

But everything in order, and first about the possibilities and imperatives of expansion, perhaps not even final. BRICS initially declared itself as an association of a new type, a kind of forerunner of a new, fair world order that does not accept exclusivity and the desire for dictatorship and consumerism towards other members of the world community. That is why, against the backdrop of the successes of the “five” and growing requests for inclusion in such a new format from the developing world, BRICS had no serious options not to respond to such requests or to get away with general words and empty promises. That is, the expansion could not fail to take place; only the criteria and conditions for such an expansion, its speed and limits remained unclear.

From the point of view of the influence of the new composition of BRICS, one of the most common points was the calculation of the generalized potential of the association — the excess of total GDP over the GDP of the G7 countries, where the difference in total GDP in terms of purchasing power parity is especially clearly visible: 37% versus 29.9%. Similarly, everyone began to calculate the overall indicators of the updated BRICS in terms of reserves of key mineral, water, forest and other natural resources, industrial and demographic potential, political weight and authority, membership in international organizations.

In addition, although also in a simplified manner, they began to pay attention to the strengths of each of the new members separately, find logical solutions to the diverging potentials of the newcomers, and work out quantitative parameters for increasing the weight of the association. And indeed, Egypt — the largest country in the Middle East by population, one of the world's most important logistics hubs. Iran — a country that has extensive experience in resisting sanctions and has significant industrial potential. UAE — the most important financial center. Saudi Arabia — one of the largest players in the oil and gas market. Ethiopia — on the one hand, one of the poorest countries, but at the same time the country hosting the headquarters of the African Union, as well as the state with the highest level of GDP growth and GDP per capita at purchasing power parity in the 2010s (146.7% and 149% respectively). And finally, Argentina, which continues to confuse the world community after the election of the populist libertarian Javier Miley, is going through difficult times in terms of the state of the national economy and finances (previously Diana Mondino, who became the head of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, said that Buenos Aires will not join to BRICS in 2024. — Izvestia).

There is no doubt that interaction in the new BRICS will be at least not boring. Temperaments, strategic approaches and interests, domestic and foreign policy aspirations will make it possible to further diversify the agenda, further enriching the BRICS discourse, taking into account the aspirations of both successful dynamically developing countries and the poorest representatives of the Global South. Despite the even more diverse composition of the updated BRICS, the basic principles and values of the association remain unchanged. This includes sovereignty as a central concept, mutual respect and attention to not crossing each other’s red lines, and the desire for a fairer & mdash; multipolar — world order.

Each, including the smallest, state of the association is also well aware of the benefits that BRICS brings for the well-being of their own people: this is an understanding of stronger collective bargaining positions in the conditions of interaction and putting forward demands on the countries of the “golden billion” , and additional opportunities for deepened economic cooperation within the BRICS, and even a sense of psychological belonging to the “club” high level of a new type, which often plays an important role in the interaction of country leaders with their population and the request for their own status in world politics.

As noted earlier, it cannot be said with certainty that this expansion was the last. There are at least 17 more states that have expressed official interest in joining BRICS, and this is if we do not count the list of unofficial statements.

Logic leads us to the conclusion that the expanded composition of an association will invariably affect the quality and speed of decision-making in the group, and efficiency is inversely proportional to the number of members of any association. All this is true, and such a danger exists. But the same logic also refers us to the basic parameters of common interests and common values that exist in the current BRICS and will be similar in the event of further incorporation of the world majority countries.

Any nationally oriented leader of each country will be interested in the development of the group as long as it offers him additional opportunities for his own development, without imposing unacceptable restrictions on the implementation of his foreign and domestic policies. And this, in turn, may serve as a response to the preservation or loss of effectiveness of the association in new conditions and with a new composition.