BRICS 2012

BRICS is an international political organisation of leading emerging economies, arising out of the inclusion of South Africa into the BRIC group in 2010. As of 2012, its five members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. With the possible exception of Russia, the BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, but they are distinguished by their large economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs. As of 2012, the five BRICS countries represent almost half of the world’s population, with a combined nominal GDP of US$13.6 trillion, and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves.

President of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao has claimed BRICS countries are defenders and promoters of developing countries and a force for world peace.

The four BRIC countries met in Yekaterinburg for their first official summit on 16 June 2009, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,Dmitry Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, and Hu Jintao, the respective leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, all attending. The summit’s focus was on means of improving the global economic situation and reforming financial institutions, and discussed how the four countries could better co-operate in the future. There was further discussion of ways that developing countries, such as the BRIC members, could become more involved in global affairs.

In the aftermath of the Yekaterinburg summit, the BRIC nations announced the need for a new global reserve currency, which would have to be ‘diversified, stable and predictable’. Although the statement that was released did not directly criticise the perceived ‘dominance’ of the US dollar – something which Russia had attacked in the past – it did spark a fall in the value of the dollar against other major currencies.

Entry of South Africa

In 2010, South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping, and the process for its formal admission 

began in August of that year. South Africa officially became a member nation on December 24, 2010, after being formally invited by the BRIC countries to join the group. The group was renamed BRICS – with the “S” standing for South Africa – to reflect the group’s expanded membership. In April 2011, South African President Jacob Zuma attended the 2011 BRICS summit in Sanya, China, as a full member. The BRICS Forum, an independent international organisation encouraging commercial, political and cultural cooperation between the BRICS nations, was formed in 2011.

The following table shows the places where four BRICS Summit were conducted.

Summit	Participants	Date	Host country	Host leader	Location
1st	BRIC	June 16, 2009	Russia	Dmitry Medvedev	Yekaterinburg
2nd	BRIC	April 16, 2010	Brazil	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	Brasília
3rd	BRICS	April 14, 2011	China	Hu Juntao	Sanya
4th	BRICS	March 29, 2012	India	Manmohan Singh	New Delhi
5th	BRICS	2013	South Africa	Jacob Zuma	unknown

The 2012 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma attended the 4th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 29.03.2012.

Declaration endorses Kofi Annan solution to Syria crisis

The Delhi Declaration of the fourth summit of BRICS was most explicit on Iran and Palestine, while broadly endorsing the Kofi Annan approach to resolving the year-long conflict in Syria.

The declaration cautioned against delaying a resolution of the Palestine issue under the pretext of Arab Spring, and said direct talks between Ramallah and Tel Aviv would dampen some of the disquiet in the Middle East and North Africa.

In another development, China and Russia, while not endorsing the candidature of the other three BRICS members — Brazil, India and South Africa — to join them as permanent members on the U.N. Security Council, “supported” their desire to play a greater role at the U.N.

A large part of the most exhaustive post-BRICS summit declaration issued so far was devoted to sustainability and developmental issues, and it approvingly noted the initiatives taken by the members to advance dialogue on climate change, poverty eradication and a cleaner energy mix.

An Action Plan, riding on the high implementation rate of previous work plans, has lined up a series of line-Ministry interactions so that some of the intentions expressed in the Declaration edge closer to implementation by the time of the next summit in Russia.