BRICS (B-R-I-C-S) Is Brazil, Russia, India, China,
And South Africa
BRICS
stands for an association of five developing and rising economies which
includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Jim O'Neill, the then
chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
coined this term BRIC in 2001 in his publication Building Better Global
Economic. Initially, South Africa was not associated with it. It joined in 2010
and BRIC became BRICS as it is formed by
the first letters of the member nations in a given sequence. In September, 2006 the foreign
ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) met in New York City. In series
meetings, they prepared the required background, modalities, and terms of
references to associate. The first full
scale diplomatic meeting held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on June 16, 2009. Thereafter, BRICS nations are meeting
annually at formal summits. Russia
hosted 7th Summit in July 2015. The 8th is in Goa, India.
BRIC ,the four member club reached consensus
on improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions
as its goal in 2009. They also announced the need for a new global reserve
currency. Started with economic mutual interest, the agenda widened manyfold
with passage of time.
Since
2009, BRICS evolved gradually in its successive meetings, held annually in
rotation among member nations. Summits held: Brasillia, 2010; Sanya, 2011; New
Delhi, 2012; Durban, 2013; Fortaleza, 2014. Consensus evolved on issues can be
grouped into two main pillars. One, coordination in multilateral fora with a
focus on economic and political governance. Two, cooperation among members.
In
first pillar, the efforts are being made
to reform the global governance institutions- in economic and financial fields.
These includes financial G-20, IMF, World Bank along with others. Efforts are
on to reform political institutions such as the United Nations.
In
second pillar intra-BRICS mutual cooperation is gaining strong ground. Agenda
points have broadened since its inception. Areas of enhanced cooperation
comprise finance, agriculture, economy and trade, combating crime and
terrorism, science and technology, health, education, corporate and academic exchanges
and security are few among many.
The
financial field receives focus as a new front of cooperation. In the 6th summit in 2014 BRICS singed two financial instruments into a
treaty and it became active in 2015. One is creation of New Development Bank
(NDB). Two is Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). NDB and CRA signalled a
good message about willingness of consolidation and partnership in the
economic-financial sector among members.
The
NDB is a multilateral development bank. It is operated by the BRICS states. It
aims at financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member
nations and other developing countries. Initially it would start with a subscribed capital of 50 billion US
dollar- 10 dollar contribution by each member.
India
hosted the 8th BRICS Summit in its chairmanship on 15-16 October2016 in Goa.
The theme is ''Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions."
The 9th Summit is proposed in China.
Five-pronged approach of Goa summit is: Institution building to
further deepen, sustain and institutionalise BRICS cooperation; Implementation of
the decisions from previous Summits; Integrating the existing
cooperation mechanisms; Innovation, i.e.,
new cooperation mechanisms; and Continuity, i.e.,
continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms.
In short, approach can
be captured by ‘IIIIC or I4C’. The focus is on enhanced
people-to-people (P2P) contacts of BRICS member states, especially youth. In
this context, India has planned activities like U-17 Football Tournament, Youth
Summit, Young Diplomats’ Forum, Film Festival etc.
How was this summit crucial
for India? How did it provided additional advantages to tackle spontaneous
increase in tension with Pak? Recent
attack in Uri by Pakistan and thereafter surgical strike by India on terror
launching pads in Pakistan intensified tensions between Pak and India. India is
making an all out effort to isolate Pakistan diplomatically from getting any
support on terror issue from any country. India is trying to highlight Pak as
terrorist generating country.
Russia is an old friend
of India. India improved its relations with USA. USA and Pak relation appears
going down. Relation between China and Russia looks better than before. There
appears a new equation of China-Russia-Pak in south asia. To balance and tackle
this new formation, India signed a bilateral trade agreement with Russia amounting
39000 Crore across multiple sectors. PM
Modi convinced China for a combined effort to fight against terror, promoted
and abetted by our neighbour.
India got first success
when SARRC meeting to be held in Pakistan was cancelled. This sent a bad signal
about Pakistan. This cancellation approved the action of India which it did in
self-defence in the form of surgical strike. PM Modi said terrorism casts a
long shadow on our development and economic prosperity. Its reach in now
global. Hence, we need to fight it together with conviction. Now, it is not a
matter of India only. It is now global issue.
What are outcomes from
Goa BRICS summit? India mustered support on terror issue including the China.
Albeit no mention of Pakistan and which is not required too. India-Russia
reenergized and revived their old
friendship. This is need of our to bring power equation in our favor in south
Asia. Talks to speed up work on setting up of BRICS institutions is a welcome
move. India's NSG bid gets acknowledged in the name of clean energy.
India got chance to
start forming a new bridge with Bimstec. It is a block comprising seven
countries. It includes India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand
and Myanmar. Mostly seek greater ties with China. For India, these are
important for strategic and economic reasons due to their geographic locations.
Goa summit helped India to strengthen its relationship with Bimstec nations.
Goa summit provided
India an opportunity to tackle and muster support on surgical strike issue.
India used this forum strategically to prove that it is going to play a bigger
role worldwide. This summit helped India in its mission to improve its presence,
effectiveness and visibility on world map. India availed this opportunity to bring
South Asian power equations in its favor.
Heera Lal (Views are personal and based on different sources)
Ref:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRICS
2. http://brics2016.gov.in/content/innerpage/8th-summit.php
3. http://brics.itamaraty.gov.br/about-brics/information-about-brics
4. http://brics.itamaraty.gov.br/about-brics/information-about-brics
5. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/China-impedes-Indias-attempt-to-mention-Pakistan-based-JeM-LeT-in-Goa-Declaration/articleshow/54887064.cms
6. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/retreat-by-moscow-with-old-ally-no-longer-looking-out-for-india-it-must-redo-its-strategic-math
7. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/talk-on-terror-trade-bimstec-five-takeaways-from-the-eighth-brics-summit/story-L0e8xJcmptT65j2rm2nkqM.html
8. http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/top-4-achievemnts-for-india-at-brics-summit-2016/420315
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