The fifteenth edition of the ‘BRICS’ summit will be held in South Africa in August under the slogan “BRICS and Africa”, and with the goal to promote the interests of the African continent. Given the importance of this new economic alliance, a number of countries have shown interest in joining the BRICS group, including some Arab countries, along with Turkey, Iran and Argentina. Most of those Arab countries are rich in conventional energy resources, such as oil and gas.
Recent data indicates that 19 countries from different continents have officially sent requests to join the BRICS alliance. They also support efforts to establish a new financial system to move away from the dollar, and to strengthen its global reserve status. An alliance of this scale, based on economic strength and bargaining power, can challenge the G7 countries which contribute about 27.8% to the total global economy, in contrast to the BRICS alliance’s share of about 35% of the world economy.
Any increase in the number of countries joining BRICS will lead to an expansion of this bloc, thereby moving the global financial system eastwards towards developing countries away from western countries. This in turn will gradually reduce global dependence on the US dollar in the coming years, according to experts. Oil-rich countries might sell their crude oil to Western countries in the new BRICS currency and force them to settle trade using the same currency, effectively laying the ground for the establishment of a new global financial system.
Experts believe that the presence of new BRICS members is a good positive step, as expansion is always viewed positively, while the membership of some countries will be considered at the next summit for approval. The BRICS group was formed from 5 emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China at the beginning, with South Africa added later. The first summit was held in 2009 in Russia with member states taking turns to hold annual summits. The last one was hosted by China last year.
The alliance works to encourage trade, political and cultural cooperation, and work to establish a bipolar world order. The markets of these five countries are emerging and fast growing, and their growth is increasingly challenging the economic confrontations of some advanced economies.
It is expected that BRICS will contribute more than 50% of the global GDP if it succeeds in including and expanding the member states, and therefore African countries will be at the forefront of the countries that will benefit from the new ideology and from the projects that will be presented on the ground.
Africa had been subjected to imperial methods that cost the continent its capabilities and potentials. Its rich and diverse resources were exploited by many Western nations several decades ago. Through the BRICS alliance, the continent will open its doors for business through the prudent commercialization of resources, investment in economic and infrastructure projects, and thereby bolster trade volumes as well.
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