By PETER DUBE

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The Brics Summit that concluded this week has become a springboard by which countries in the Global South hope to be stronger through admitting more members.

The rallying call from leaders, both in the bloc and those affiliated, is that the global economy and justice system will not favour a disunited group of countries that bear the largest size of the population on earth.

Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – issued the Johannesburg Declaration II in which they invited six countries to join: Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These six would be part of the bloc from January 2024.

If their economies are put together, Brics could hold a third of the world’s GDP from next year, worth about $30 trillion.

Fiercely backed by China and Russia, the inclusion of Iran looks likely to further strengthen the anti-US axis in the Brics.

Read: Brics summit to begin in South Africa

Political and economic analyst Mandla Mzimela believes the decision to add Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Argentina and Iran “reflects the influence of China and Russia in the group”.

Geopolitics

He says the addition of Saudi Arabia and the UAE “gives the group a greater relevance in the geopolitics of the global oil market”.

“This could make members like India and Brazil uncomfortable. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE would add important economic weight to the group, which now includes several important members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Russia,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and Argentina, both members of the Group of Twenty (G20), could enable the Brics to help coordinate the views of most of the emerging market to the G20. In this sense, the group could be an informal counterpart to the G7, coordinating developed countries’ positions at G20 meetings.

However, with a strong China-Russia-Iran axis, Mzimela fears “there is a risk that the group will end up pushing for anti-Western positions”. Such a development could make reaching compromises in the G20 more difficult.

Read: Brics nations considers new members ahead of summit

Call for unity

South Africa invited most peers across the continent, including East African countries.

“In times like these, in which we face serious global challenges, the international community should be united, not fragmented, and should be willing to take collective measures in addressing issues of global concern, such as poverty, climate change, health, food insecurity, conflicts, and others,” said President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania, at the Brics–Africa Outreach and Brics plus Dialogue, held on the margins of the 15th Brics Summit in Johannesburg.

She urged global leaders to find a way to address what she called deeply rooted and self-reinforcing structural problems, including the existing international financial architecture that inhibits developing states from accessing long-term and affordable financing for development.

Brics member countries agreed to speed up the use of their currencies to settle trade and investment transactions. This is part of ongoing effort to reduce dependence on the US dollar.

“As Brics, we are ready to explore opportunities for improving the stability, reliability and fairness of the global financial architecture,” said President Ramaphosa.

The summit agreed to task the Brics finance ministers and central bank governors to consider the issue of local currencies, payment instruments and platforms and report back to the leaders by the next summit.

Read: Russia bid to reclaim African influence, tackle US dollar

New strategy?

As for membership Riyadh, seems a way to hedge against the US. 

Egypt, faced with a massive economic crisis, is perhaps a surprise inclusion. However, a closer look would suggest Russia and China could be keen to enhance relations in hopes of strategically leveraging the North African nation’s assets in the coming decades. 

Other members will likely view Cairo’s key strategic location, control of the Suez Canal, and newly discovered gas fields as potentially lucrative economic and political opportunities.

Iran, on the other hand, boasting gas and oil reserves, would mainly be appealing to Moscow and Beijing. Its inclusion will further fuel tensions with the US. 

Iran, sanctioned by the West, has been buoying its ties with China as an economic lifeline. And given its ailing economy groupings such as Brics could challenge Washington’s ability to punish or isolate countries that pursue policies that contradict US interests. 

Read: Brics ‘expansion’ jolts Nato to pivot towards Africa

The alternative currency dream may be distant for now but a deal on buying and selling goods in local currencies could also weaken the blow of sanctions.

The declaration did speak on Brics being opposed to unilateral decisions by some countries to punish others and vowed to respect the UN Charter as a symbol of global rules-based system.

Yet even Brics itself is accused of not looking in the mirror: Russia, one of its members invaded Ukraine last year and has used these forums to defend its decisions. Russian President Vladimir Putin couldn’t travel to South Africa because of an indictment by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Ukraine. He still lampooned the West, however, in a virtual speech to the plenary.

“The global majority that the countries attending the Summit belong to, is becoming increasingly tired of the pressure and manipulation,” Putin said on Wednesday.

“It is open to honest, equal and mutually respectful cooperation.”

But the US won’t be caught sleeping. So far, Washington has announced its willingness to strengthen the financing capacities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

At the opening of the G20 summit in July in Indonesia, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the US alone would provide nearly $50 billion in lending to low and middle-income countries through the IMF and World Bank.

He also said that the US expects its allies and partners to contribute, which could ultimately leverage over $200 billion in lending.