AIR Spotlight: 14th BRICS Summit

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panelists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation. In this article, the 14th BRICS Summit and its significance are discussed in detail.

Participants

1. Dilip Sinha, Former Ambassador
2. Manish Anand, Journalist

Context:

BRICS is the acronym referring to the grouping of five emerging countries namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Since 2009, annual summits have been held by BRICS nations. This year’s 14th BRICS summit was held by China on 23-24th June 2022.

PM Modi’s Speech

• PM Modi thanked all BRICS nations for the spectacular Yoga day celebrations.
• He reviewed the COVID-19 situation which has improved over the past two years.
• He highlighted that BRICS share a common vision of world order and its governance.
• He proposed that BRICS initiatives can help in post covid recovery.
• He said that there has been institutional improvement in BRICS in the last few years such as – more members in the Asian Development Bank, the establishment of Vaccine Research and Development, BRICS virtual satellite constellation, etc.
• The BRICS youth summit, BRICS sports, etc. also contributed to improved people-to-people contact.

This year’s theme is “Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development”

Relevance of BRICS

• It is a forum for cross-regional development.
• It offers an alternative model of development.
• The grouping also offers development assistance to countries.
• BRICS is a cross-regional consultative forum that offers the possibility of moving forward together rather than in a bipolar fashion.

Challenges

• India saw it as an expression of multipolarity but today two clear blocs are emerging.
• The dynamics of the world order have changed since BRICS was founded in the backdrop of the global financial crisis, there is the phenomenal rise of China on the one hand and the face-off between Russia and the West in the form of the Ukraine conflict.
• China is investing more through its Asian Infrastructure Investment bank, which is incidentally also based in Shanghai. For China, the priority is to provide its own bilateral development assistance.
• India might not be in a position to influence the behaviour of Russia and China in the framework of BRICS. India needs to be careful how China posture BRICS as anti-west.
• Indian goals are better served by bilateral relations than by multilateral groupings.
• BRICS cannot be a forum for United Nations Security Council reform as China is blocking India’s claim to a permanent seat.

Impact of emerging electricity crisis on India

While China has emerged as the largest buyer of Russian oil, India’s relationship with Russia is not on the same page. India’s purchases from Russia have increased but still, they are minuscule. India should not look at Russia as its main supplier and engage with the Indo-Pacific in this context as it is already doing.

Read more Gist of AIR Spotlight here.

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