CNBC: Russia pushes ‘New World Order’ agenda as it hosts beefed-up BRICS summit

Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi at the BRICS summit.
Photo: Kremlin.ru

Russia is rolling out the red carpet to its allies on Tuesday, as it hosts the BRICS summit in a show of strength to the West, CNBC reportes.

The group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was initially formed as an organization of rapidly economically-developing nations. It has morphed into a geopolitical forum for the world’s most powerful nations outside of — and, importantly, challenging — the Western world.

Russia is rolling out the red carpet to its geopolitical allies as it hosts the BRICS summit on Tuesday, pushing its agenda to create a “new world order” that challenges the West.

The group was initially comprised of Brazil, Russia, India and China before South Africa joined in 2010, giving the organization of rapidly economically-developing nations its current name. It has since morphed into a geopolitical forum for the world’s most powerful nations outside of the West.

The BRICS now have additional clout after Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the group in January, with membership to the bloc becoming an attractive prospect for countries looking to boost trade, investment and economic development.

Saudi Arabia, which has been invited to join the BRICS group but has not yet formally acceeded, is also participating in the latest summit in the s Russian city of Kazan.

Russia has been trying to woo what’s collectively known as the “Global South” — or economically-developing countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America — and contrast to the “Global North” of industrialized nations, traditionally led by the U.S.

Putin has described the beefed-up BRICS group as a “strong indication of the growing authority of the association and its role in international affairs” and signaled on Friday that he intends for the so-called “BRICS +” format to challenge the West on both a geopolitical and economic front.

“The countries in our association are essentially the drivers of global economic growth. In the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP,” Putin told officials and businessmen last Friday at the BRICS business forum in Moscow, which precedes the group’s summit, in comments translated by Reuters.

“The economic growth of BRICS members will increasingly depend less on external influence or interference. This is essentially economic sovereignty,” Putin added.

Earlier in October, Putin said Moscow was open to using the summit for discussions with its allies on the “the parameters of interaction in the emerging multipolar world, and is open to discussing the issues of building a new world order with all our friends, partners and like-minded people,” he said, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.

Putin added that “it is in this spirit that we are preparing the BRICS and Outreach/BRICS Plus summit,” referring to the last day of the three-day summit when officials from almost 40 Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries are attending as part of the group’s bid to expand ties with the “Global South.”

The expansion of the BRICS coalition is both significant and performative, one security analyst told CNBC.

“It is indicative of a collective movement away from the West, a demonstration of a fundamental shift within the world order that is seeking to challenge Western economic hegemony,” Callum Fraser, a research fellow in Russian and Eurasian security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told CNBC Monday.

Russia’s chairing of the summit would be “utilized to maximum effect to demonstrate Russia’s strong position within this emerging order,” Fraser added.

The 16th BRICS summit is taking place under the theme of “strengthening multilateralism for just global development and security,” with the Kremlin stating that BRICS leaders will exchange views on “pressing issues on the global and regional agenda,” as well as on “the three main pillars of cooperation identified by the Russian chairmanship: politics and security, the economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian ties.”

The Kremlin added that the possible expansion of the BRICS group through the establishment of a new category of “partner states” would also be discussed.

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