BRICS to buttress Global South
India's efforts to amplify the voice of the Global South have gained momentum in recent years, culminating in the inclusion of the African Union into the G20 during India's presidency in 2023. This precedent is now mirrored in BRICS, which is undergoing significant expansion. With India's proactive involvement, countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE have joined the bloc, now termed BRICS+. Several more nations from West Asia, Africa and Latin America have expressed interest, viewing BRICS as a credible platform to champion their interests.
India's current standing can be better appreciated by revisiting the origins of BRICS in the early 2000s and the foundational RIC or Russia-India-China framework. At that time, the global order was markedly different. Russia was a member of the G8, China was seamlessly integrating into West-led institutions, and India-China relations were relatively cordial. The inclusion of Brazil and South Africa expanded the group into BRICS, bound by a shared vision for a new multipolar world.
Over the past two decades, the BRICS economies have surged. In purchasing power parity terms, the bloc's collective economy now stands at $60 trillion, surpassing the G7's $45 trillion, driven largely by the dynamism of Asian and other Global South countries. However, BRICS is not without contradictions. Border tensions in 2013, 2017 and 2020 have significantly altered India-China relations. While the bloc continues to espouse unity, there are heavy undercurrents of mistrust and apprehension. India's actions reflect an acute awareness of these realities.
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