Eleven friends with Putin: BRICS will double in size
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“Multipolarity is not a synonym for justice”
BRICS ceases to be the “five” and turns into an association of 11 countries, however, under the same name. The decision to join Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was made on the last day of the summit and, according to Vladimir Putin, was the result of “difficult work” and “amazing diplomatic skill” shown by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Full membership of the new countries will begin at the next BRICS meeting, which will be held in Kazan in autumn 2024.
The main hero of the last day of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, no doubt, was Narendra Modi. Everyone who did not have time to do this the day before tried to congratulate the Indian Prime Minister on the successful completion of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. (Spoiler alert: Vladimir Putin managed to do it, though not in person, but by telegram.) President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa was especially pleased with the success of his colleague. “In the morning at the meeting, I immediately asked Mr. Modi what was happening with the spacecraft. Is he still on the moon? the host of the summit was eager for details. Without worrying too much about the feelings of Vladimir Putin, Ramaphosa expressed the wish that the Indian prime minister spoke about the “scientific aspects” of the lunar mission not only to him alone, but to all participants in the event. (Recall that the Indian apparatus “Vikram” landed at the south pole of the moon, i.e., where the crashed Russian station could not reach.)
Narendra Modi really shone like a bronze statue of Vishnu in the rays of the setting sun. But he showed nobility and modesty, noting that the achievements of Indian scientists belong not only to themselves. “This is the success of all mankind,” he stressed. Taking the opportunity, Modi suggested that his BRICS colleagues create a “full-fledged consortium for space exploration.” Such cooperation, in his opinion, would also be of global importance, especially since the circle of participants in the association is expanding. Starting next year, BRICS will include six new members at once.
According to the host of the summit, Cyril Ramaphosa, negotiations on expansion have been going on for a long time and in different formats. (According to media reports, the final list was not ready even by Wednesday evening.) As a result, in the first stage, 6 countries out of 20 that expressed such a desire will enter the BRICS: these are Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. What criteria the leaders adhered to when agreeing on such a recruitment, Ramaphosa did not specify, however, as the head of the Russian delegation Sergey Lavrov later explained, the weight, authority, significance of the country and its position in the international arena were taken into account.
States whose applications were not satisfied will remain in the status of partners for the time being. And the countries of Africa and other states of the “global south” will continue to interact with the BRICS in the outreach format – their opinion, as all participants assured, is of great importance. About the single currency BRICS, according to Lavrov, “no one is talking now.” And the issue of renaming the organization, whose name is an abbreviation of the first letters of the five founding countries, was not even raised by the new participants. “Everything is for the name to remain the same, it is already a brand,” the minister assured.
The leaders of the “five”, in turn, expressed the hope that the accession of new members will give “dynamics and energy to our cooperation.” According to Mr. Ramaphosa, “BRICS is an equal partnership of states with different views, but a common vision of the future.” Vladimir Putin specified that all members of the association, both current and potential, stand for the formation of a multipolar world order and traditional values against neocolonialism and neoliberalism. “BRICS does not compete with anyone, does not oppose itself to anyone. But it is obvious that the process of creating a new world order has irreconcilable opponents who are striving to restrain the formation of new, independent centers of development,” said VVP.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, who was present at the enlarged meeting of the summit, pointed out the weaknesses of this concept. According to him, multipolarity “by itself is not enough to build a peaceful and just society.” He recalled that Europe was multipolar in the last century, but this did not prevent a world war. According to Guterres, the world needs strong unifying governance mechanisms, and there is no alternative to cooperation. “We need to restore trust immediately. This requires compromises,” the head of the UN said.
Newspaper headline:
11 friends with Putin
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