Brics expected to surpass G7 share in global economy by 2028
The bloc of emerging countries, formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, was joined by South Africa the following year. The group acts as a cooperation mechanism in areas that have the potential to generate concrete results for Brazilians and the populations of other member countries. According to the federal government, the group represents more than 3 billion inhabitants and US$ 25 trillion in GDP, or 40% of the world’s population and about a quarter of global GDP.
The group has attracted the attention of other countries. According to Bloomberg, more than 40 nations have indicated interest in joining the BRICS bloc. The statement was made by the South African ambassador to the bloc, Anil Sooklal. The country will host the next Brics summit, scheduled to take place between the 22nd and 24th of August in the capital Johannesburg. The criteria for an eventual expansion should be one of the main agendas of the meeting. Professor at the Institute of International Relations at the University of Brasília, Thiago Gehre, highlights the importance of Brazil’s participation in the bloc.
“For Brazil, it is very important to be part of this club, a select group of countries, economically very powerful, which have their own economic dynamics. And it makes it possible for Brazil, obviously, to expand both its export and import trade agenda, its volume of trade, as well as in the financial sphere to circulate Brazilian resources, as well as to capture other resources from non-traditional sources”, he says.
In 2022, the volume of foreign trade between Brazil and South Africa was US$ 2.6 billion, of which US$ 1.7 billion in Brazilian exports and US$ 900 million in South African exports. The most exported Brazilian products were oil (16% of the total), chicken (12%) and vehicles (7.2%). In imports from South Africa, silver and platinum were at the top (33%), followed by coal (11%) and aluminum (10%). The data is from the federal government.
current context
China and the United States, Brazil’s two biggest trading partners, have been locked in a trade war for years. Americans and Chinese compete for first place in the ranking of the largest global economies, currently led by the US. Another complex point in the current international scenario is the war in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine, which made Russia an international pariah. Western powers condemn the invasion of Ukrainian territory with the imposition of sanctions on Moscow.
In addition, these countries have given military support to Ukraine, which makes the confrontation a kind of indirect war between the two largest military forces in the world, USA and Russia, with the participation of the European Union as well. In this context, Brazil must adopt a position of neutrality in international relations, according to Thiago Gehre. For the professor, this is a delicate moment and Brazilian foreign policy must find a balance so that, by strengthening the relationship with China and Russia, it does not distance itself from other important partners, such as the USA and the European Union.
“Brazilian foreign policy already has a tradition of knowing how to play with the ends of the poles of world power. This comes a lot from tradition, for example, in the Second World War, when Brazil adopted a posture that we call equidistant and pragmatic. So I see a lot of this repeating itself in a new way in the 21st century, a kind of pragmatic equidistance between the traditional poles of western power, with which Brazil identifies. On the other hand, this does not prevent Brazil from maintaining good relations with countries such as India, China and Russia”, he says.
BRICS Parliamentary Front
The Senate installed the Brics Relationship Parliamentary Front last May. The objective of the initiative is to monitor legislation and policies involving the bloc, promote exchanges with parliaments of other member countries and monitor the processing in the Brazilian Parliament of matters that deal with matters of interest to the Brics.
The president of the collegiate, senator Irajá (PSD-TO), emphasizes the economic, social and political representativeness of the bloc’s countries. He claims that the parliamentary front intends to create a legislative agenda that is convergent with the strengthening of the country and the other members and that facilitates trade relations. Which, in his view, could yield gains in the environmental area and also in Brazilian exports.
“If we create an agenda that facilitates import and export trade relations with these countries, our balance will be more surplus than it is today. So that’s the idea: to have an even closer relationship with partner countries. And the Brics front has this objective of always facilitating the business environment with partner countries”, he points out.
By Brasil 61
