At the summit, Venezuela accuses Brazil of vetoing its entry into the BRICS+ group

Boiler. The BRICS+ group claimed to be the heir to movements of Southern countries that over recent decades sought independence from Northern nations. We are more than just acronyms invented by an economiststated the Brazilian delegation, founder of the bloc.

In addition to its 10 members, yesterday 13 nations from three continents joined as associatesa prior step to becoming members. Venezuela was not included, in a fact that that country’s foreign ministry attributed to a veto by Brazil. The leaders who participated in the three-day summit agreed to create an investment platform and their own payment system.

Russia is subject to sanctions by Western countries, led by the United States, for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the final photograph of the BRICS+ summit in this city, the presidents of 32 countries, the foreign ministers of others, posed three and the secretary general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that the governments of the nations represented here share similar aspirations, values ​​and a vision of a new global democratic order.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Viera – representing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who at the last minute did not travel due to medical prescription – said that BRICS+ is not a simple acronym, alluding to a report by economist Jim O’Neill, from Goldman Sachs, published in 2001, which identified Brazil, Russia, India and China as emerging economies that would increase their global weight.

Behind the letters BRICS+ there is a palpable reality built over decades of efforts for a more equitable worldVieira explained in the plenary session that concluded the summit, which was attended by the group’s partners and the leaders of the invited countries. Among the Latin Americans were the presidents Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, and Luis Alberto Arce, of Bolivia, as well as the Cuban foreign ministers, Bruno Rodríguez, and the Nicaraguan foreign ministers, Valdrack Jaentschke.

“The BRICS+ owes a lot to the Group of 77 – which brings together countries from the global South – and the Non-Aligned Movement,” emerged during the cold war as a counterpower to the great powers.

The BRICS+ group has become a vector of the economic growth that the world has experienced in this century, said Vieira.

Chinese President Xi Jinping considered in his message during the last plenary session that the BRICS+ must act as stabilizing force. As we stand at the forefront of the global South, we must demonstrate our collective wisdom and strength, defend peace and achieve universal security.he declared.

President Putin proposed the creation of an investment platform, a day after proposing to form a raw materials market, initially cereals, between the BRICS+ countries. This Thursday, he considered obvious that the new wave of economic growth will no longer occur in the countries of the North. Therefore, he stated, the time has come to discuss the idea to create our own platform to unlock the growth potential of our economies.

The meeting also agreed to advance the integration of a payments system among the BRICS countries, whose economy represents 37 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), slightly more than the 34 percent of the Group of Seven (G7), where There are the United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

The payment system, called BRICS Clear for now, would be used to settle deposits. Until now the dominant system is SWIFT – which allows, for example, paying with a credit card from a country on another side of the world or moving money between company accounts in different territories. Russia is disconnected from SWIFT, as part of Western sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine. Promoters of the alternative platform seek to reduce dependence on dollar transactions. The proposed platform would allow all members to retain full access to BRICS+ financial systems even if they were disconnected from SWIFT.

The sixteenth BRICS+ summit did not formally expand the bloc. Full partners are: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia.

Officially, the associated states that were incorporated yesterday are: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Venezuela was not included in this category, even though President Nicolás Maduro was invited and attended the summit. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry published a statement in which it assures that its exclusion was due to a veto from Brazil, which it described as aggressive and hostile act.