The two main issues that will be on the agenda of the summit are the creation of the BRICS, or actually the non-Western world currency or mutual settlement system, as well as the expansion of the association. As for the latter, it has been officially announced that 23 countries of the world have submitted applications for BRICS membership, while another 22 countries have informed the association’s leadership and member states that they are considering such a possibility. At the same time, the situation with the expansion of BRICS is about the same as the situation with the creation of its own currency or payment system. There is a consensus among the leading non-Western countries that enlargement is necessary and encouraged, but at the same time there are very different opinions on what the new format of the association should be and which countries should or should not be included in it.
Although BRICS has always positioned itself as an economic association of non-Western countries, the goal of which is the independent and alternative development of member economies, geopolitics also plays a no less role. And if China and Russia see BRICS as a completely alternative platform to the Western system, then India, Brazil and South Africa are, in a sense, engaged in sitting on two chairs, looking for opportunities both on one side and on the other. The list of countries that have submitted applications is similar. Some of them are strongly anti-Western, some are geopolitically neutral and prioritize their own profitability, while some applicants can be considered some kind of agents of Western influence.
In addition, it should be noted that the list of applicants also consists of regionally influential countries (Iran, Indonesia, Persian Gulf countries, Argentina) and countries whose geopolitical and economic weight is frankly modest. Among them, applications have been submitted by Honduras and even Palestine.
The list of possible expansion formats is also different – starting with the gradual inclusion of regionally important countries in the club, and ending with the creation of BRICS+ parallel to the existing BRICS, in which all those who wish would be included. (An analogue could be the so-called two-speed Europe.) Discussions about the format promise to be heated, but the influx of new candidates will depend on how successful or unsuccessful it turns out to be. In other words, the global future of the non-Western world
2023-08-16 02:40:55
#issue #BRICS #expansion
