What is BRICS and what are the goals of this alliance

BRICS is an acronym for the group of leading emerging market economies of the world, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

BRICS is an international organisation that has recently sought to expand its influence through the accession of new countries. Iran, Argentina and Algeria have formally applied for membership. Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria have indicated their intention to become part of the group.

What does BRICS stand for

The original name of the organisation was formed in English - BRIC - based on the first letters of the names of the participating countries (there were four) - Brazil, Russia, India, China. They were later joined by South Africa.

Who are the BRICS members

The internationally renowned BRICS organisation was founded 14 years ago. The official date of establishment of BRICS is 16 June 2009. The first BRIC summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, kicked off that day. In April 2011, South Africa joined the organisation and the name was changed from BRIC to BRICS.

South Africa joined BRICS with three goals:

- promote its national interests;
- promote its regional integration agenda and related continental infrastructure programmes;
- partner with key players from the South on issues related to global governance and its reforms.

South Africa's membership of the body has broadened the geographical and intercontinental reach of BRICS, including its global inclusiveness.

The purpose of the creation of BRICS: briefly

The BRICS bloc was created to coordinate the actions of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in order to collectively increase the economic growth of these countries. BRICS cooperation has expanded over the past decade to include an annual programme of more than 100 sectoral meetings.

A key objective of the BRICS was the desire of the five leading emerging powers to strengthen their position in the world through active cooperation with each other.

In addition, among the BRICS goals outlined in their official document, the BRICS Strategy, are:

- striving for inclusive economic growth to eradicate poverty, tackle unemployment and promote social inclusion (the BRICS core objective);
- consolidating efforts to ensure a higher quality of growth by promoting innovative economic development based on advanced technology and skills development;
- striving for further engagement and cooperation with countries that are not members of the BRICS.

In addition, among the BRICS' goals and objectives is the development of settlements in national currencies to boost economic growth. This should become one of the areas of partnership for joint economic growth.

The BRICS goals and their achievement will give new impetus to global economic cooperation. For example, BRICS trade and investment with low-income countries has served as a major support system since the global financial crisis (International Monetary Fund (IMF) study).

How BRICS works

Since 2009, the BRICS countries began to meet annually at official summits. In 2020 and 2021, they were held virtually due to the risks of the spread of coronavirus infection. The XIV Summit was held on 23-24 June 2022 in China.

During the high-level meetings, the most important issues on the joint agenda and existing problems are discussed. Each summit ends with the adoption of a leaders' declaration. In addition to the summits, BRICS organises around 100 events each year, including 15 ministerial meetings.

So what does the BRICS do? There are BRICS civil society forums, parliamentary and youth forums, and a separate media summit. The agenda of these events covers numerous issues of a financial, scientific, technical, cultural and political nature.

BRICS has no formal legal documents governing its activities, statutes or secretariat. It is chaired by the country hosting the summit and coordinates all ongoing activities. The chairmanship is transferred annually according to the position of each country's name in the acronym: Russia held the chairmanship in 2020 after Brazil, while India took over the chairmanship in 2021 and handed it over to China in 2022, followed by South Africa in 2023 year.

The 2014 Fortaleza Summit created the New Development Bank and established the Contingent Reserve Agreement. To date, the NDB has been able to sanction about $8 billion worth of renewable energy and infrastructure projects in the BRICS countries. The BRICS Bank acts as a financial stability mechanism for countries affected by the balance of payments crisis.

Cooperation between members is achieved through formal diplomatic engagement between governments, networking through government-affiliated institutions and civil society activities.

Main areas of cooperation within BRICS

1. Economic cooperation

Trade and investment flows between the BRICS countries are growing rapidly, as well as economic cooperation activities in a number of sectors.

Agreements were concluded in the areas of trade and economic cooperation; innovative cooperation, Customs cooperation; and strategic cooperation between the BRICS Business Council, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement and the New Development Bank.

These agreements contribute to the common goals of deepening economic cooperation and developing integrated trade and investment markets.

2. Exchange between people

BRICS members recognised the need to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and develop closer cooperation in the fields of culture, sport, education and cinema.

People-to-people exchanges aim to create new friendships, deepen existing ties and mutual understanding among the BRICS peoples in a spirit of openness, inclusiveness, diversity and mutual learning.

Such exchanges take place through the Young Diplomats' Forum, the Parliamentarians' Forum, the Trade Union Forum, the BRICS Civil Forum and the Media Forum.

3. Political and security cooperation

BRICS members' political and security cooperation aims at achieving peace, security, development and cooperation for a more equitable and just world.



BRICS provides opportunities to share policy recommendations and best practices on domestic and regional issues and to promote the restructuring of the global political architecture to make it more balanced and based on the principle of multilateralism.

BRICS is used as a driver of South Africa's foreign policy priorities, including the implementation of the African agenda and South-South cooperation.

BRICS headquarters

There is currently no BRICS headquarters, but the member states intend to establish one in the near future. At the end of November 2022, the plan was announced by Hua Don Mello, the BRICS representative for Central and West Africa. Ironically, it is planned that the association's headquarters will be established in neutral territory, in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), not yet a member of the BRICS.

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