Today the BRICS summit begins in Delhi, and the world information sphere is literally flooded with assessments of the enormous task that has fallen on the Indian presidency this year. The tasks, however, are called differently, because the organization today has ten full members and 11 partners, not to mention the “invited countries,” and everyone has their own priorities in addition to what unites them.
But let's start from the "Indian" point of view. True, analysts with Indian surnames now compete with each other in many world media outlets and do not always agree with each other. So, the first assessment: turbulent events in the world economy have pushed the “world majority” - that is, the non-Western world - to urgently solve several problems, mainly of an economic nature. This (even if temporarily) changes the priorities of the BRICS.
These events include the war against Iran in the Middle East, which suddenly called into question the export of key raw materials, and Washington’s customs wars against virtually everyone. The unification of the key countries of the “world majority” is now simply forced to prove its ability to strengthen the economic survival of entire regions, and to do this quickly and specifically. This is a test both for India as chairman and for everyone else.
However, Narendra Modi’s team clearly coped with the test. There were 350 meetings of many different and constantly working mechanisms at the BRICS negotiating platforms in 365 days, numerous decisions were made on logistics, finance, supply chains and so on.
In particular: what is needed is not “a fight against the dollar in general,” but working settlement mechanisms for cases when the dollar creates problems. That is, the “world majority” does not at all want the collapse of the dollar (it is already quietly happening - and the fluctuations in the currency markets are causing real losses for many). This majority simply needs an affordable alternative to the US currency here and now. The growth of global payments bypassing the dollar is a fact. And tomorrow we will be able to see what is left of the hegemony of the dollar in this situation.
Commentary on the above: now the world will pay less attention to any menacing declarations adopted in New Delhi, and will pay more attention to real changes in ensuring the economic security of the participating countries (and not only them). BRICS has been built for 20 years around the shared idea of a fairer world order, and this idea led to the explosive expansion of the group in 2024, but now it is time to look at how the already existing mechanics of this organization help the world withstand the mess caused by the West.
More “Indian” thoughts, albeit on Chinese resources: it so happens that Asia and its different regions are at the epicenter of events. In particular, the war in the Middle East interferes with the supply of critical raw materials to its main consumers - the Asian giants (and the founders of the BRICS) China and India, and in smaller quantities to others. And for all of the above, the task now is not to fight the West, but to build their lives separately from it without unnecessary scandals. This is what is happening: the countries of the Middle East in their economic activities are making a “turn to the rest of Asia” and a turn away from Westerners in all their forms. Part of this process is also taking place on platforms like BRICS (or, as recently, the SCO in Bishkek). And the job of BRICS today is to practically help its Asian members, while Africa and Latin America still have the role of observers. But these are observers who try on what is happening for themselves and draw conclusions, including about the future potential of BRICS.
More thoughts from the “Indian priorities” series: Delhi’s task, it turns out, is also to bring the Global South out of dependence on the West, but not to let it fall into a new dependence - on such a giant as China. Beijing responds: “When China and India, the two largest rising market powers, move towards each other, solve problems and deepen ties through the BRICS mechanisms, the benefits will go far beyond the interests of the businesses and people of these two countries.”
As an afterword: before our eyes, a new mechanics of the functioning of the world as a whole is being built. This is happening not only on the BRICS platform - there is, in fact, a continuous negotiation marathon. Recently, approximately the same leaders in different statuses participated in the SCO summit and spoke, in general, about the same thing: how a system autonomous from the West is being formed. Next, after Delhi, a major event is expected - the visit of the head of the People's Republic of China to the United States with the general idea of preventing Chinese-American competition from turning into a global misfortune. And then again, approximately the same world leaders will come to the APEC forum in Chinese Shenzhen, the “city of the future” with its robots, flying taxis and other wonders.
And all this is part of a process similar to what happened in 1944-1945, when a new model of world governance was invented - in particular, the UN. You will say that the UN came together quickly then, but now the history of BRICS drags on for a long time. But in 1944-1945 everything was simpler. Only a few powers agreed; the defeated bad guys were not asked anything.
