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- The BRICS Hour: The summit participants confirmed their desire to change the world rules
The BRICS Hour: The summit participants confirmed their desire to change the world rules
The BRICS summit in New Delhi was a success: the parties agreed on a final declaration, and for the first time since the invitation, Saudi Arabia fully participated in the work of the main meeting. Even in the context of the Middle East conflict and contradictions between individual countries, the Global South has demonstrated unity. At the same time, the formation of a more just world order continues to face resistance from states that are accustomed to "dividing the world into a garden and a jungle," Vladimir Putin noted. Nevertheless, the movement towards changing the rules of the game in the international arena seems to have no alternative. Now the main task of the BRICS is to support these geopolitical shifts with concrete projects that will directly benefit the population of the participating countries. In the meantime, the holding of such summits in many countries of the union is overshadowed by strong social stratification — and New Delhi is no exception in this regard.
The composition of the summit participants
On September 12, the Indian capital officially received the leaders of the BRICS countries. Delegations from all the countries of the association arrived in New Delhi, and eight of them were headed by top officials. The exceptions were Brazil, which was represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and the UAE, which sent the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan. Latin American leader Lula da Silva stayed at home due to the difficult election situation. The decision of the UAE president to send his eldest son instead of the relevant official, according to media reports, underlines the high importance of the site for the Middle Eastern monarchy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and other participants of the XVIII BRICS Summit during a joint visit to the "Innovative India" exhibition
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also arrived in New Delhi. Riyadh has been on hiatus for a long time after its official invitation to the BRICS in 2023. However, the personal presence of the foreign minister at the meeting of full-fledged participants of the summit actually brought the kingdom out of the "gray zone". Neither in Brazil last year, nor in Kazan in 2024, representatives of Saudi Arabia participated in meetings in a narrow format.
The current summit has become a serious test of BRICS strength. This is the first meeting of the leaders after the sharp escalation of the situation in the Middle East, which exposed deep contradictions within the association. The new BRICS members — Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — de facto found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.
The situation is also complicated by the heterogeneity of the positions of other members of the association: some states prefer to take a wait-and-see attitude, while others openly criticize anti-Iranian actions. At the same time, the conflict has not yet been resolved, and the risk of further escalation remains.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the official welcoming ceremony of the heads of the BRICS member states
An additional challenge remains the bilateral contradictions between individual BRICS members. India and China continue to argue over territories — against this background, Xi Jinping's visit to the neighboring country was the first in seven years. Egypt and Ethiopia, in turn, disagree on the use of water resources.
Adoption of the joint declaration
Despite all the contradictions, the BRICS countries could unanimously adopt the final declaration, in which the parties expressed concern about the situation in the Middle East and called for refraining from actions that could lead to escalation.
Although the wording of the document turned out to be diplomatic and cautious, the very fact of the adoption of the common declaration demonstrates the BRICS countries' willingness to find common ground even in difficult circumstances. The situation in the Middle East does not negate the rest of the association's activities, but, on the contrary, allows us to see "the framework within which a dialogue within the BRICS is possible," said Margarita Lipovataya, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Global Processes at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
According to her, the Iranian crisis has become a test that shows the real limits of the possibilities of unification right now. At the same time, it can become an incentive for more flexible institutionalization, probably through the creation of "coalitions of the willing" within the BRICS in certain areas. In other words, the BRICS is likely to adopt a model of electoral consolidation: on issues where interests coincide (de-dollarization, reform of the IMF and the UN Security Council, infrastructure projects), the association will act more consistently and institutionally. On issues of acute regional conflicts affecting different camps within the association itself, it is important to remain a platform for dialogue without binding decisions, the expert concluded.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the XVIII BRICS Summit meeting
An important step in the development of BRICS was the initiative of the summit's host, Narendra Modi. The Indian Prime Minister proposed to create a working group in the "troika" format, which will include the previous, current and future BRICS chairmen. According to Modi, the annual change of leadership should not slow down the overall work — the association needs continuity so that the projects started can continue without pauses. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian went even further, calling for the creation of a permanent BRICS secretariat.
The main task of the BRICS
Based on the official statements of the leaders at the BRICS summit, there is a clear impression that the countries of the association have much more common ground than differences. All participants are united by the main thing — the desire to change the rules of the world game and rebuild the global economic system. The speeches of the leaders clearly show a common goal: to create a multipolar world in which the West will cease to act as a judge and a policeman at the same time, independently pronounce sentences and carry them out.
— The unipolar system of international relations, which served a narrow group of countries, is becoming a thing of the past. The balance of power is being redistributed in favor of new growth centers in the Global South and East. More and more states are loudly and clearly declaring their readiness to defend their national interests and participate in solving global problems," Vladimir Putin said.
According to him, the formation of a multipolar world is not without difficulties.: it meets resistance from those who "are used to thinking in colonial terms, dividing the world into a blooming garden and a wild jungle, and living at someone else's expense."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a joint banyan tree planting ceremony
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged not to delay the reform of the United Nations and expand the Security Council at the expense of the countries of the Global South. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke out against unilateral sanctions, the same position is reflected in the final declaration. South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the countries of the Global South to abandon their role as primarily commodity exporters. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in turn, stated the need to move the international order towards greater justice and equality.
BRICS does not position itself as an anti-Western alliance. However, the complex experience of interaction with Western institutions, which almost every country has at this table, inevitably determines the overall agenda of the association today.
For India and Egypt, this is a difficult colonial past. For China, it is a "century of humiliation," and for South Africa, it is the long years of struggle against the apartheid regime, which Western countries supported based on their own interests. Ethiopia remembers the bloody Italian aggression, Brazil remembers the 1964 military coup that took place with the support of the United States, and Indonesia remembers the painful experience of interacting with the IMF in the 1990s. Today, Russia and Iran are at the forefront of a fierce confrontation with the West. Even the UAE, despite its close relations with the United States and EU countries, has the experience of the British protectorate behind it. This common historical memory and the unwillingness to once again be in the role of executors of someone else's will, perhaps, unite such different states more than many momentary interests.
Meeting of the XVIII BRICS Summit in New Delhi
This historical subtext is clearly felt even on the streets of New Delhi. Modern residents of India speak English fluently, are fond of cricket, which came from Britain, and assemble the latest iPhones in their factories. But it is worth starting a conversation about why the problems of poverty are still so acute in the country, as the interlocutors inevitably recall the colonial past.
"They plundered us, extracted tens of trillions of dollars worth of wealth from our country," says one of the interlocutors.
Of course, a three-year—old girl without clothes who begs with her older brothers at one of the main attractions of New Delhi, the Humayun Mausoleum, can hardly be considered a direct consequence of British rule. However, the colonial policy, including the perpetuation of inequality and limited access to education for a significant part of the population, left behind deep social problems that India still cannot solve. Similarly, Russia still has to overcome the consequences of the upheavals of the 1990s, and the legacy of the apartheid regime has to be overcome by the Republic of South Africa.
Iranian President Masoud Peseshkian and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
That is why millions of ordinary citizens in these countries expect real help from unification, not abstract geopolitical victories. However, BRICS still has one important drawback along the way — the inability to translate complex diplomatic formulations into understandable human language and intelligibly convey to the people of their countries the real benefits of this cooperation.
In order to remain viable, the association should not be perceived solely as an elite club of the Global South or an abstract counterweight to the "Big Seven". BRICS will become primarily an application platform for the creation of specific economic and social projects. According to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the potential of unification must be translated into practical actions. Ultimately, the task is not only to make loud political statements, but also to create projects that can really change people's lives.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
