Why the bloc matters for India Firstpost

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next week to attend the 16th BRICS summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday October 18 that the Indian leader would participate in the summit to be held in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, on the banks of the Volga, on October 22 and 23.

Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from BRICS member countries and invited leaders, the MEA said. However, it is not yet clear whether the prime minister will hold a sideline meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Commenting on the BRICS Summit, the MEA said, “The summit, themed “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security”, will provide an important platform for leaders to discuss key global issues.

“The summit will provide a valuable opportunity to assess the progress of initiatives launched by BRICS and identify potential areas for future collaboration,” it added.

This is Prime Minister Modi's second trip to Russia this year after his visit to Moscow in July for the 22nd annual India-Russia summit. He also called a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the time.

What is BRICS and why is the bloc important to India? We will explain.

What are BRICS?

BRICS is an informal group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

In 2001, Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O'Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Adopting this term, the first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on June 16, 2009.

The group was formed to bring together the fastest growing developing countries to address their concerns and counter international institutions dominated by Western powers.

They became BRICS in 2010 with the accession of South Africa.

Earlier this year, the bloc welcomed five new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The larger group has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45 percent of the world's population. The combined economies of member states are worth more than $28.5 trillion, or about 28% of the global economy.

With the accession of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the BRICS countries produce 44% of the world's crude oil.

According to an article from the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), the group is evolving from a geoeconomic framework to a geopolitical force. This is evident from the recent expansion of the bloc.

BRICS aims to establish an open, transparent, inclusive, non-discriminatory and rules-based multilateral trading system. They seek to outpace the US dollar in international trade. For this, member countries have pushed for the use of national currencies for trade between them.

Despite the discussions, a common BRICS currency seems elusive for the moment.

The importance of BRICS for India

India remains engaged in global forums like BRICS. New Delhi calls for a multipolar world in which the international order is not dominated by the West.

At the 2023 BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said the BRICS meeting should send a message that the world is multipolar, it is rebalancing and the old ways cannot not cope with new situations.

According to the ORF article, India has used multilateral forums to strengthen its position on the global stage. For New Delhi, BRICS provides a platform to make the voice of the South heard.

Jagannath Panda, director of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the Institute for Security and Development Policy, said in an article published by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) that India views BRICS and its expansion as a multipolar base. expand its economic reach in the Middle East [West Asia] and beyond.

According to The diplomatBRICS diplomacy focuses on development that aligns with India's core interests, energy security, counter-terrorism and climate change financing.

The bloc attempts to amplify non-traditional security threats and encourage economic security. It has integrated non-traditional threats as part of a broader security agenda, something that is often missing from global discussions, the report said. The diplomat piece. The group presents the socio-economic realities of the developing world that are often ignored by the North.

BRICS reflects India's interests, including reforms in multilateral forums like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United Nations and the UN Security Council.

India's shift to a multi-alignment foreign policy helps it to be part of a Western group like QUAD (Australia, India, Japan and the United States) and non-Western blocs like BRICS. For New Delhi, BRICS constitutes an important lever to promote India's aspirations for global leadership, as well as strategic autonomy and multipolar vision in both the West and the South. India's image as a bridge between Western (like the QUAD) and non-Western forums, or even as a participant in both, creates a favorable impression about its negotiating capacity, Panda said.

With the contribution of agencies