Heads of state and representatives of BRICS members and partner countries pose for a group photo at the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, October 24, 2024. Photo: SCMP.
The Global South-led organization BRICS is growing. More and more countries support the group’s mission: to build a multipolar world, with alternative economic institutions that are more representative and democratic, not dominated by the Western powers.
BRICS held a summit in Kazan, Russia in October 2024, where 13 new “partner nations” were accepted.
At this historic meeting, China’s President Xi Jinping referred to BRICS as “a vanguard for advancing global governance reform” and “reform of the international financial architecture.”
Bolivia’s left-wing President Luis Arce argued that “the shield of BRICS and multipolarity” can protect formerly colonized nations, helping them resist “Western unipolarity and the tyranny of the dollar.”
The organization was first formed as BRIC in 2009, by Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa subsequently joined in 2010, turning the group into BRICS.
At the 2023 BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, several more members were invited to join.
As of October 2024, BRICS has nine members and 13 partner countries:
- 5 original members:
- Brazil
- Russia
- India
- China
- South Africa
- 4 new members (invited in August 2023; officially admitted in January 2024):
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Iran
- United Arab Emirates
- 13 partner countries (accepted in October 2024):
- Algeria
- Belarus
- Bolivia
- Cuba
- Indonesia
- Kazakhstan
- Malaysia
- Nigeria
- Thailand
- Türkiye
- Uganda
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
The expansion of BRICS has made the group into even more of a geopolitical and economic powerhouse.
Together, the nine BRICS members comprise more than one-third of world GDP (measured at purchasing power parity). They have well over 40% of the planet’s population, and make up roughly 30% of global oil production.
By contrast, the G7 nations comprise less than 10% of the world population and under 30% of GDP (PPP), and their share of the global economy is shrinking over time, whereas that of BRICS is increasing.
Four new BRICS members (but not Argentina and Saudi Arabia)
More than 30 countries attended the Kazan summit, from 22-24 October. This was the first meeting featuring BRICS’ four new members.
Joining Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the summit were Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
At the 2023 Johannesburg summit, six countries had been invited to join, but two did not: Argentina and Saudi Arabia.
At the time, Argentina had a center-left government, led by President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. They had enthusiastically accepted the offer to join BRICS in August 2023.
The invitees were not officially accepted as members until January 2024, however, and far-right President Javier Milei took office in December 2023. He immediately cancelled Argentina’s plans to join BRICS and condemned the organization, stating, “Our geopolitical alignment is with the United States and Israel. We are not going to align ourselves with communists”.
Unlike Argentina, Saudi Arabia has been ambiguous in its position. Riyadh has not officially accepted the invitation, but it has not rejected the offer either. The kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MbS) did not attend the Kazan summit. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan attended instead.
Western critics of BRICS, who seek to provoke disunity inside the group, have exploited the public relations blows of Argentina’s rejection and Saudi Arabia’s indecision in order to depict the organization as fragmented.
The creation of the partner status category at the Kazan summit was apparently a way for BRICS to prevent these conflicts from happening again in the future. If a government wants to join the organization, it must first be accepted as a “partner” for a period of time before integrating as a member. (This process is similar to that of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which China, Russia, India, and Iran are also members.)
This may explain why the Russian government did announce that there were 13 new partner nations, but did not identify what they were at the Kazan summit. Instead, journalists from BRICS members released the list of partners to the public, citing internal diplomatic sources.
Maduro: Veto by Brazil’s Foreign Ministry Will Not Silence Venezuela
China and India sign agreement on border dispute
The highlight of the Kazan summit was the discussion of plans to transform the international monetary and financial system, based on a report published by the central bank and finance ministry and Russia, in its capacity as BRICS chair in 2024.
One of the most important developments at the meeting, however, happened before the summit officially began.
In Kazan, China and India signed a historic agreement, settling a four-year border dispute.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit, President Xi and Prime Minister Modi also held their first bilateral meeting in five years.
Russia, which has good relations with both China and India, had mediated and promoted cooperation between the two nations, and appears to have had success in encouraging deeper unity inside BRICS.
In an earlier sign that relations were improving, in May 2024, Beijing sent its ambassador to New Delhi for the first time in 18 months.
The United States, on the other hand, has sought to woo India and exploit its differences with China, exacerbating the tensions to try to isolate Beijing and divide BRICS.
The Western corporate media has likewise attempted to promote conflict within BRICS.
Latin American left blasts Brazil for vetoing Venezuela’s BRICS partner status
While China and India were repairing their relations, Brazil set off a scandal at the Kazan summit.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva did not attend the meeting. He claimed that he suffered an injury and was unable to travel, so he instead sent Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
Although Lula was not even physically present, his government blocked Venezuela from being accepted as a partner country of BRICS.
This provoked heavy criticism of Lula among the Latin American left, which accused him of undermining BRICS, further dividing the region, and even taking the position of Brazil’s former far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro publicly criticized Brazil, stating that its veto of BRICS partner status “constitutes an act of aggression against Venezuela and a hostile gesture.”
The other BRICS members had supported Venezuela’s partner status. Unlike Lula, Maduro actually traveled to Russia for the summit, and in Kazan, the Venezuelan president had friendly meetings with other BRICS leaders and representatives from more than 30 countries.
The scandal led Russia to speak out against Brazil’s diplomatic sleight. “We know Brazil’s position; we do not agree”, Putin said at a press conference.
“Venezuela is fighting for its survival,” the Russian leader added, referencing the constant US-led coup attempts against the government of President Maduro.
Putin revealed that Lula had asked him to speak with Maduro. “I hope the situation will be resolved,” the Russian president said.
BRICS Kazan declaration
The BRICS members signed a lengthy joint statement on 23 October. The Kazan Declaration called for “the promotion of peace, a more representative, fairer international order, a reinvigorated and reformed multilateral system, sustainable development and inclusive growth.”
BRICS seeks “a more equitable, just, democratic and balanced multipolar world order,” according to the statement, which posited, “Multipolarity can expand opportunities for EMDCs [emerging markets and developing countries] to unlock their constructive potential and enjoy universally beneficial, inclusive and equitable economic globalization and cooperation.”
In contrast to the West’s vague idea of the “rules-based international order,” the Kazan Declaration underscored “the central role of the UN in the international system” and international law.
Nevertheless, the statement reaffirmed “support for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council,” emphasizing “the urgent need to achieve equitable and inclusive geographical representation in the staff composition of the Secretariat of the United Nations and other international organizations in a timely manner,” with “greater and more meaningful participation of EMDCs and least developed countries, especially in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, in global decision-making processes and structures.”
The Kazan Declaration called “for the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, which includes increased representation of EMDCs in leadership positions to reflect the contribution of EMDCs to the global economy,” and recognized “the crucial role of BRICS in the process of improving the international monetary and financial system (IMFS).”
The statement repeatedly condemned “the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions, on the world economy,” and demanded that they be eliminated.
BRICS members also criticized Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon and reaffirmed “support for the State of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations,” including “the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine in line with internationally recognised borders of June 1967.”
The Kazan Declaration similarly condemned the illegal US military occupation of Syria and Israel’s attacks on Iran.
Statements by leaders at Kazan Summit
At the Kazan summit, China’s President Xi urged, “We must work together to build BRICS into a primary channel for strengthening solidarity and cooperation among Global South nations and a vanguard for advancing global governance reform.”
Xi called for peace in Gaza and Lebanon, stating, “We must promote an immediate ceasefire and an end to the killing. We must make unremitting efforts toward a comprehensive, just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question.”
“In light of the rise of the Global South, we should respond favorably to the calls from various countries to join BRICS,” the Chinese leader added, stating that “the reform of the international financial architecture [is] all the more pressing”, and “BRICS countries should play a leading role in the reform.”
In a similar vein, Putin promoted the replacement of the US dollar-centered Bretton Woods system.
“It is obvious that the next wave of global economic growth is being born in the countries of the global majority,” the Russian leader said. “Therefore, the time has come to discuss the idea of creating our own platform to unlock the potential of our growing economies.”
Putin lamented that the transition to a more multipolar world “is not proceeding smoothly. Its development is being retarded by forces accustomed to thinking and acting in the logic of dominating everything and everyone.”
Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian was also at the Kazan summit, where he expressed enthusiastic support for BRICS’ plans to build a more multipolar financial system.
“We should not continue depending on Western payment systems. This is a big threat,” Pezeshkian warned, urging the establishment of “alternative possibilities.”
“Iran will do everything for the BRICS group to successfully promote the task of reforming the structure of global economic management and creating alternative possibilities for Global South countries,” the Iranian leader said.
Bolivia’s leftist President Luis Arce was at the Kazan summit as well. Announcing with pride that the South American nation had been accepted as a partner country, Arce stated that BRICS “advances every day the consolidation of a new multipolar world.”
“With the support of the BRICS bloc, we can push forward the transformation of the economy and global governance, to strengthen the realization of joint and mutually beneficial development,” the Bolivian leader said.
“This meeting in Kazan will establish a new moment in history, in which the historically subjugated peoples and nations will align themselves behind the shield of BRICS and multipolarity,” Arce continued. “We will realize our national aspirations and development processes with development in our territories, without interference of any kind, with self-determination, taking back the institutional places that that West has prevented us from using.”
The Bolivian president stressed that BRICS will help countries in the Global South achieve “justice with our peoples,” in their struggle against “Western unipolarity and the tyranny of the dollar.”
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
