It's not just about expanding staff, British scholars: This year's BRICS Summit BRICS Countries Summit

Since its establishment, the BRICS Cooperation Mechanism has made significant progress, and more and more countries hope to join the mechanism. The 15th meeting of BRICS leaders was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 22nd to 24th. At that time, new members are expected to join, and the global representation of the BRICS countries will be further enhanced. This summit will also discuss important agendas such as "de dollarization" to reduce the dependence of emerging economies on the traditional international financial system centered around the US dollar, and promote a more equitable, democratic, and multipolar world order.

The 15th meeting of BRICS leaders was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 22nd to 24th, which may herald a significant step forward for BRICS countries in developing and expanding their global influence.

In 2010, China, Brazil, Russia, and India, as important political and economic powers in their respective regions, established the BRICS mechanism. In 2011, South Africa officially joined and the BRICS mechanism expanded to include five countries.

Since the 21st century, especially after the 2007-2009 economic crisis, the BRICS countries and other important emerging international organizations have been continuously established, which actually reflects the unwillingness of Western powers to allow emerging countries to play a greater role in the existing global governance system, including the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization. Therefore, it is necessary to address the lack of motivation and excessive interference in national sovereignty by existing multilateral institutions, promote South South economic integration, and better meet the needs of countries in the global South.

The BRICS countries have always maintained a relatively low-key stance on the world stage. The BRICS mechanism was initially designed as a platform for dialogue and cooperation, mainly serving large emerging economies with common values in the international system. Members uphold the spirit of mutual respect, understanding, equality, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, and consensus.

In 2014, the establishment of the New Development Bank marked significant progress in BRICS cooperation, which is conducive to mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS countries and other emerging developing countries. In diplomacy, it has replenished international development funds and provided more patience for existing multilateral and regional financial institutions as well as global capital markets.

Another significant progress is the establishment of emergency reserve arrangements to address international balance of payments difficulties and short-term liquidity issues arising from unstable financial liberalization and the implementation of quantitative easing policies by central banks in developed countries. In 2015, the BRICS mechanism coordinated with the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; In 2016, China promoted the implementation of the International Monetary Fund quota reform; In 2017, China began considering dialogue and cooperation with non BRICS countries and potential BRICS+countries to promote BRICS countries to become the "most influential South South cooperation platform in the world".

By 2023, the BRICS countries have quietly made progress in many areas such as trade, investment and sustainable development, infrastructure connectivity, financial integration, technology and innovation.

According to purchasing power parity calculations, in 2022, the total economic output of the BRICS countries surpassed that of the G7, led by the United States, for the first time. According to market exchange rates in 2021, BRICS countries account for 26.1% of global GDP and 53.1% of world population, while G7 countries account for 43.5% and 9.8%, respectively. However, GDP cannot fully explain the problem. If we look at the production of finished products, energy, raw materials, and food, the BRICS countries account for 36.6%, 28.3%, and 53.1% of world output, respectively; In contrast, G7 accounts for 35.5%, 28.1%, and 14.1%, respectively. Without considering differences in purchasing power, the contribution of BRICS countries to the production of essential goods for human survival far exceeds their share in GDP, while the contribution of G7 is much smaller than its share in GDP.

The 15th BRICS Leaders Summit was held in South Africa, and more than 40 countries have expressed their desire to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism. If other global southern powers such as Iran, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia join, the economic and population proportions of the BRICS countries will significantly increase, promoting a repositioning of trade and investment, and accelerating the integration of producers from the BRICS+economies into regional and global value chains.

However, the importance of this summit lies not only in this, but also in the need to reduce our dependence on the international financial system centered around the US dollar. This system has at least three major offenses: firstly, the exploitation of the international coinage tax and the excessive privilege of printing the US dollar; secondly, the instability caused by unsustainable debt accumulation; and thirdly, the United States unilaterally uses the US dollar and the international financial system to sanction other countries. Nowadays, although US dollar transactions are steadily decreasing, most transactions are still denominated in US dollars and must be conducted through US banks and the International Fund Clearing System.

The BRICS countries emphasize the importance of encouraging them and their trading partners to use their own currencies for financial transactions. A unified payment card system may not replace the existing national payment card system, but it can serve as a supplement. The financial information systems of China, India, and Russia can establish connections and be on par with the SWIFT systems controlled by the West. The BRICS countries and the Eurasian Economic Union have begun to explore the possibility of establishing parallel regional reserve currencies or even world reserve currencies based on commodities and BRICS currencies. Once this reserve currency is established, bonds can be issued to finance development projects.

Recently, the West has been attempting to contain the development of China and Russia from a political and economic perspective, and the difficulties it has encountered are in stark contrast to the progress made by the BRICS countries. In a broader sense, this may mean that the era of Western countries dominating the world for over 500 years is coming to an end, and a new multipolar world is emerging. In this new multipolar world, countries will follow fairer and more democratic rules and work together to explore ways to jointly solve global problems.