The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, the Chancellor Mauro Vieirawill lead the Brazilian delegation at the summit of Brics in Kazan, Russia, between this Tuesday (22) and Thursday (24). The minister was appointed to represent the country after the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva suffered a domestic accident not Saturday (19).
Doctors recommended, as a precaution, that Lula avoid traveling long distances. The president continues working normally in Brasília this week and participates in the meeting of heads of state at the Brics summit via videoconference.
Russia, which presides over the BRICS this year, reported that 32 countries confirmed their presence at the summit in Kaza, 23 of which were heads of state. Of the ten full members, only Brazil and Saudi Arabia will not send the nation’s maximum representative. The Saudis will also send their foreign minister.
This will be the Brics’ first meeting with the new members who joined the bloc this year. Previously formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the Brics now also has Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia as full members.
Additionally, there is an expectation that new partners will be announced as associate members. “This is what our work is focused on this semester, what are the criteria for this modality, and there is an expectation that, once this modality is approved, an announcement can be made of the countries that would be invited to join this category”, said the ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia, secretary of Asia and the Pacific at Itamaraty.
Bloc members must also discuss measures to reduce dependence on the dollar in trade between countries, in addition to actions to strengthen alternative financial institutions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, controlled mainly by Western powers.
For experts consulted by Brazil Agencythe Brics have the role of overcoming the difficulties imposed by the United States (USA) and its allies on China’s commercial and technological advancement.
Countries that suffer economic blockades from Western powers – such as Iran and Russia – also need the bloc to circumvent the financial suffocation of sanctions. Meanwhile, Brazil must balance between the two main geopolitical blocks in dispute to reap commercial and technological benefits.
It is estimated that the Brics concentrate around 36% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), surpassing the G7, a group of the largest economies on the planet with the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, which concentrates around 30% of the world’s GDP. . Furthermore, Brics concentrates around 42% of the world’s population.
