The city of Kazan, Russia, hosted the 16th BRICS presidential summit from October 22 to 24, 2024, under the theme “Enhancing Multiplicity for Just Global Development and Security.” The summit saw participation from the bloc’s members, other countries, as well as representatives from international and intergovernmental organizations.
Increasing Importance:
The 16th summit witnessed numerous dynamics and events, summarized as follows:
Continuing Membership Applications:
The BRICS grouping accounted for about 36.7% of the global economy in 2024, surpassing the G7’s share of 30% in 2023. Many countries expressed their desire to join, notably Turkey, which submitted an official application in September 2024. Countries like Azerbaijan and Belarus also sought membership, while Kazakhstan chose to abstain from joining the alliance, a decision the Kremlin pledged to respect. Nonetheless, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev participated in the summit, as did Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, despite Serbia not having finalized its membership status.
Extensive Participation from Leaders:
A total of 38 countries participated in the BRICS summit held in Kazan, with most attendees being heads of state. Key figures included Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (President of the UAE), Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Bezhskyian, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. Additionally, UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended, alongside leaders of countries interested in joining the bloc, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính. Saudi Arabia participated with a high-level delegation led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as an invited country rather than a full member like those that joined at the beginning of 2024.
Focus on International Issues:
The main agenda of the summit revolved around global governance and its institutions, especially financial institutions that harm developing countries and only serve Western interests. Discussions also included the severe damage caused by Western sanctions to the economy and their contradiction with globalization values, as well as pressing international and regional issues such as the war in Ukraine and situations in the Middle East.
Views were exchanged on cooperation among BRICS countries on the international stage, particularly regarding ongoing regional conflicts. The agenda included discussions on the outcomes of the previous summit in Johannesburg, especially deepening financial cooperation within the group and expanding its membership in light of more than 30 countries expressing their desire to join.
Multiple Meetings Held on the Summit’s Sidelines:
Numerous meetings were held alongside the summit, including a direct meeting between the Chinese and Indian presidents for the first time, following agreement on conducting patrols along the disputed Himalayan border after four years of military confrontation that escalated tensions between the two countries.
Host President Putin also held bilateral meetings with all members and invited heads of state, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, and Bolivian President Luis Arce.
Moscow’s Cooperative Proposals:
Russia presented several proposals during its presidency of the bloc, including establishing an online information exchange mechanism to resolve e-commerce disputes; aiming to create a proactive framework before litigation. It also introduced an initiative to establish an investment arbitration center for BRICS, develop an agreement for resolving investment disputes, and proposed setting up a BRICS grain exchange to help discover fair and predictable prices for products and raw materials, ensuring food security and protecting national markets from harmful foreign interventions, speculation, and attempts to create artificial food shortages. In the long term, it aims to transform the grain exchange into a fully operational commodity exchange.
Strengthening Cooperation:
The summit produced a number of outcomes and results, crystallized in the Kazan Declaration, considered the final statement of the summit. The main outputs included:
Financial and Monetary Cooperation: Moving towards establishing an independent infrastructure for organizing payments and cross-border financial transactions (BRICS Clear), focusing the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism (ICM) on facilitating and expanding innovative financial practices and methods for projects and programs, including finding acceptable mechanisms for financing in local currencies. It also considered creating a unified transfer platform to ensure multimodal logistics services among member states and welcomed the establishment of a new investment platform utilizing the New Development Bank’s infrastructure.
Global Governance: This involves endorsing the appeal made by the G20 during Brazil’s presidency for global governance reform, supporting dialogues and partnerships that promote cooperation with Africa, such as the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, India-Africa Forum Summit, and Russia-Africa Summit. It emphasized building upon the outcomes of the Second Johannesburg Declaration of 2023, and supporting calls for comprehensive reforms of the United Nations, including its Security Council, to make it more democratic, representative, effective, and efficient, enhancing the representation of developing countries in the Council’s membership to better respond to prevailing global challenges, and supporting the legitimate aspirations of emerging and developing countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Support for the Palestinian Cause: The bloc emphasized the urgent need to launch a comprehensive political process to address the entire Middle East issue, ending violence and providing vital assistance to those affected, while working towards establishing a two-state solution and rectifying the historical injustices faced by the Palestinian people, which is deemed the only guarantee for establishing peace in the Middle East, alongside supporting Palestine’s accession to the bloc as a member state.
Strengthening Nuclear Security: The member countries called for enhancing the nuclear non-proliferation regime and making the Middle East a nuclear-weapon-free zone, stressing the need for all parties to renew the Iranian nuclear agreement. There was also a declaration of support for establishing a research and development center for vaccines, as well as continuing to develop an integrated early warning system for BRICS to prevent the risks of diseases and epidemics.
Call for a Peaceful Resolution to the Ukrainian Crisis: The group members pledged to pursue a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, underlining the importance of dialogue and diplomatic means.
Related Implications:
The summit, its dynamics, and outcomes carry multiple implications and may lead to certain consequences, which can be illustrated as follows:
Attempting to Break Putin’s Isolation: Russia’s successful diplomacy, exemplified by hosting the summit at such a time with extensive international participation, including the UN Secretary-General, challenges Western efforts to portray Putin as an isolated leader subjected to Western sanctions and threatened with arrest by the International Criminal Court. Russia has proven the resilience and vitality of its regional and international partnerships as a system enjoying international acceptance and trust.
Turkey Balancing Between West and East: Turkey’s participation incited considerable reactions, given that it has the largest military in NATO, which is hostile to Russia. Yet, this aligns with its balanced approach in foreign policy to diversify alliances while maintaining relations with the West. It reflects Turkey’s dissatisfaction with European policies regarding its bid for EU membership. Turkey’s accession to BRICS would yield strategic advantages for the group, providing a balanced character rather than being viewed as anti-Western, and would benefit Turkey, which would enjoy the flexibility of its relationships with both East and West, particularly its ties with the U.S. to prevent delays in the anticipated F-16 aircraft deal.
Challenges in Dismantling Dollar Dominance: There seems to be an exaggeration regarding the possibility of abolishing the dollar’s status in the global system and moving towards de-dollarization of the global economy. The symbolism used by Putin during the summit regarding a unified currency for the bloc did not gain acceptance from some members who fear aligning with the Russian and Chinese approach at the expense of their interests and relationships with the West, notably India and Brazil.
Signs of a Shift Toward a Multipolar World: The interest shown by southern countries in participating in the BRICS summit, as well as by rising global powers, signals a desire among these nations to disrupt the current power balances in the global system and express discontent with the prevailing system dominated by the West and the United States. This interest also reflects the success of China and Russia in galvanizing international sentiment against the Western system, characterized by a double standard, particularly after the evident fragility of international organizations tasked with upholding international law regarding the conflict in the Middle East. Moreover, it highlights the shortcomings in international trade rules and the SWIFT system, alongside economic sanctions that harm southern economies at the West’s benefit.
In conclusion, the significance of the BRICS group’s development is undeniable, representing a steady shift in the global system through its economic, market, and resource potential, along with its massive human capital. Nonetheless, overestimating the impact of the group’s actions diverges from reality, particularly given the many contradictions within the group that hinder its effective movement amid varying interests and goals of its members themselves. This can be inferred from the nature of outcomes from the presidential summit, which are restricted to announcements and general cooperative project concepts without realistic timelines and implementation plans for many of them; thus, the effectiveness of the assembly remains in question.
