Talk of a joint BRICS currency feeds into ‘decline of the dollar’ rhetoric. But it is the economic bloc’s focus on innovation that will reshape the international system.
Lula and Modi walking a new diplomatic path.
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Brazil and India are among the countries pointedly not taking sides over the war in Ukraine. But this is not the nonaligned movement of yesteryear.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the 14th BRICS Summit via video link in Beijing. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the summit.
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Geopolitics is forcing BRICS countries to balance respect for international law, self-determination, sovereignty and peaceful resolution of disputes with their friendly relations with Russia.
President Vladimir Putin, left, and President Cyril Ramaphosa in Sochi, Russia, in 2019.
Sergei Chirikov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images.
Lula’s courting of – or by – China and Western powers has confounded critics. But in reality, it is a continuation of the foreign policy he pursued during his earlier term in power.
Brazilian president Lula meets China’s president Xi on an official visit to Beijing in 2023.
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Jose Caballero, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
Alliances around the Ukraine war have highlighted fragmenting support for the west.
China’s President Xi Jinping, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin cement bonds at the Kremlin in March.
Vladimir Astapkovich/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images.
The US’s negative attitude towards BRICS reflects its own weakening global power, especially its inability to isolate Russia in Europe and to contain China’s growing influence.
South Africa’s foreign policy under Ramaphosa emphasises economic diplomacy and ‘progressive internationalism’, which promotes global equity and ending the dominance of the global north.
South African supporters at the 2010 men’s football World Cup.
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Hosted by Russia, the summit gave the BRICS group a chance to harmonise their approach before the G20 meeting in Riyadh.
Russian soldiers march during a Victory Day parade. The country makes guns and armoury as its main beneficiation output.
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