Foreign ministers of the BRICS countries meet in South Africa to discuss the future of the bloc. “They want to show that the world has become multipolar,” says geopolitical analyst Alex Krijger. “And we’d better take it seriously.”
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa together form the BRICS, a club that increasingly opposes Western countries and organizations such as the G7. The bloc’s foreign ministers are currently meeting in Cape Town.
Saudi Arabia and Iran would like to join. And also countries like Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria’
They want to show at a summit like this that the world order is changing, says geopolitical analyst Krijger. “That the world is more than the United States against China. And of course they are right. The BRICS countries account for 3.2 billion people or 40% of the world’s population. We in Europe represent only 5-6 percent».
More and more countries want to join
Also, more and more countries want to join the club. Saudi Arabia and Iran would like to join. And also countries like Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria. Each of them is a country with a large population that will be a major economic player in ten or twenty years’ time.’
Yet Krijger fades unanimity within the BRICS. “Beijing would like it to be a kind of Chinese G5. But it doesn’t work like that. Ties with India aren’t warm enough for that. And India is not being drawn into just one camp. The country thinks it is important to demonstrate that the world order is changing.”
The analyst therefore does not yet see the BRICS as a counterpart to the G7. “But we have to take the lockdown seriously,” he says. ‘When countries like Brazil or India offer to help us think about Ukraine’s future, we immediately tend to say: ‘it doesn’t matter, it’s something for us.’ But it’s not very convenient. You really have to get those countries involved.’
Putin is going or not going
One question hanging over the Cape Town summit is what will happen in August when BRICS leaders meet in that city. Russian President Vladimir Putin was also invited. But in that case, South Africa, as a member of the Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC), would have to arrest him.
“At the moment I don’t think Putin will come,” says Krijger. “But that summit is in two months. In the meantime many things will happen. Think of the counter-offensive and the NATO summit in Lithuania. The world will be very different again in two months.”
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
