BRICS

BRICS is an international organization currently comprising ten countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Its conceptual origins were articulated by Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov in 1998, and can be traced to informal forums and dialogue groups such as RIC (Russia, India, and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa). BRIC was originally a term coined by British economist Jim O'Neill, and later championed by his employer Goldman Sachs in 2001, to designate a group of emerging markets. The bloc's inaugural summit was held in 2009 and featured the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China; they adopted the acronym BRIC and formed an informal diplomatic group where their governments could meet annually at formal summits and coordinate multilateral policies. South Africa joined the organization in September 2010, which was then renamed BRICS, and attended the third summit in 2011 as a full member. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as member states in 2024 in Russia. Indonesia officially joined in early 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member. Saudi Arabia was invited at the Johannesburg summit and it is considered part of the organisation, but has not publicly confirmed its membership. The term BRICS+ has been informally used to reflect new membership since 2024. Collectively, BRICS comprises more than a quarter of the global economy and nearly half the world's population. The group has established multilateral institutions and financial mechanisms, such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, and the BRICS PAY payment platform. It has also promoted de-dollarization initiatives to increase trade settlements in national currencies. Some commentators consider BRICS the alternative to the G7, and a major political force in the global international order. Others describe...