India: BRICS Now An Established Part Of Global Geopolitics & Trade
BRICS Foreign Ministers together with Ministers from the Global South at the Cape Twon ‘Friends of BRICS’ summit on June 2.
The BRICS group of nations is no longer an alternative to other international associations, but a bulwark of global politics, External Affairs Minister of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated on Friday (June 2).
“BRICS is no longer an ‘alternative,’ it is an established feature of the global landscape. The message of reform that BRICS embodies must permeate the world of multilateralism,” Jaishanker said, adding that “The Friends of BRICS strongly support UNSC reform. BRICS is not only an _expression_ of multipolarity but of the many and diverse ways of meeting international challenges.”
The BRICS group of nations seeks to build “a fairer, inclusive and open international architecture with sustainable development at its core,” he stated. “Creating resilient and reliable supply chains are central to ensuring that no one is left behind,” the foreign minister stressed.
The Friends of BRICS ministerial meeting was held earlier on Friday in Cape Town. It was attended by foreign ministers from the BRICS nations and 12 countries of the Global South who are interested in joining the group, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, the Comoros, Cuba, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, Cape Town hosted a meeting of top diplomats from the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) who discussed plans of the BRICS expansion.
If accepted, the new proposed BRICS members would create an entity with a GDP 30% larger than the United States, over 50% of the global population and in control of 60% of global gas reserves.
The BRICS Ministers made a formal statement after their summit, which can be read here.