BRICS Important For India PM Modi in Russia amid Middle East crisis, why is BRICS so important for India?

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for the 16th BRICS summit in Russia, he on Tuesday stressed the importance India attaches to the grouping which has emerged as a global platform to discuss issues concerning the world. He said India values ​​close cooperation within BRICS to facilitate dialogue and discussion on issues such as global development agenda, improved multilateralism, climate change, economic cooperation, building resilient supply chains, promoting cultural and people-to-people contacts. Has emerged as an important platform for.

Over the past few years, many countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey have shown keen interest in joining BRICS. Let us understand about the grouping and its objectives, why some countries have expressed their interest in BRICS, and what is India’s position in it.

The BRICS alliance was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Recently it has expanded and now includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has said it is considering joining, and Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied. The stated purpose of BRICS is to amplify the voices of major emerging economies to balance the Western-led global order. Its founding members have called for a fair world order and reform of international institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

The heads of state and government of member countries meet annually and each country holds a one-year rotating presidency of the group. BRICS is not a formal multilateral organization like the United Nations, the World Bank or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The two countries together account for more than 40% of the world’s population and a quarter of the global economy. All BRICS countries are part of the G20 of major economies. Apart from geopolitics, the group’s focus is on economic cooperation and enhancing multilateral trade and development.

More than 40 countries have expressed their interest in becoming part of the group, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, Gabon and Kazakhstan. , they see BRICS as an alternative to global bodies “dominated” by Western traditional powers, and hope that membership will provide financial development, investment and trade between them.

Iran, which is home to about a quarter of the Middle East’s oil reserves, has said it hopes the mechanism for new membership will be decided “as soon as possible”. Oil giant Saudi Arabia was one of more than a dozen countries attending the “Friends of BRICS” talks in Cape Town in June. It has received support from Russia and Brazil to join BRICS. Turkey, which is the first NATO country to show interest in joining BRICS, views the grouping as a distraction from joining the EU.

As New Delhi seeks to use multilateral institutions to strengthen its global position, be it engaging the African Union during its G20 presidency or admitting select partner countries from the Middle East and Africa into BRICS , India is leveraging the grouping to promote a multipolar world.

With the rise in India’s economic power, BRICS provides an opportunity for New Delhi to engage many countries while creating a favorable impression about its bargaining power. The United States Institute of Peace quoted Jagannath Panda, head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the Institute for Security and Development Policy, as saying, “Access also allows greater coordination capacity in regions like Central Asia or West Asia, Where China is stronger than ever.”

New Delhi hopes that the expansion of BRICS will further boost its strategic position around the world, especially in the Middle East. While many think that BRICS is driven by Russia and China, for India the grouping is an important part of its foreign policy matrix.

An article in the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) said, “The success of BRICS depends on its ability to translate its geo-economic and geopolitical potential into tangible outcomes. For India, the expanded BRICS presents both opportunities and challenges While it provides a platform to assert its aspirations for global leadership, New Delhi must be prepared to navigate the complex geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics within the grouping.”

Since Russia holds the BRICS presidency this year, Vladimir Putin hosting the summit in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan in the Russian heartland of the Volga region, is a statement in itself. Panda explains that the location highlights Russian prosperity and Moscow’s effort to show itself that “it is not a completely isolated country on the international stage”.

The discussions at the summit are likely to be dominated by the Middle East crisis dominated by Israel and the ‘Axis of Resistance’ war as the Global South reacts to Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions following the Hamas offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Have condemned.

India’s stance regarding Israel is somewhat different from that of other BRICS members. India and Ethiopia were the only BRICS countries to abstain from voting in the UN General Assembly on the resolution against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

The development of a BRICS-centric financial system remains a top priority, as two member states (Russia and Iran) now have various sectors including the economy and military constrained due to Western sanctions.

Amid global shifts towards de-dollarization, India will remain cautious in using local currencies for trade depending on the feasibility of the partner state. While rupee-ruble trade has increased, Indian financial regulators are still wary of granting licenses to Russian banks.

Since the prime ministers of both India and China will be attending the BRICS summit in Russia, the meeting between them will signal an improvement in relations, which had become strained after the Galwan clash in 2020.

The two countries reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a series of discussions and deliberations at both diplomatic and military levels. “Both countries have agreed on patrolling. “This is mainly for Depsang and Demchok, where we have more than five patrolling points, but it is not limited to just these two friction points,” a highly placed source in the Defense Ministry said. “It is moving in a positive direction, but the modalities are being worked out and further plans can be announced after a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of BRICS.” PM Modi’s other bilateral meetings will include India-Russia engagement with Putin and discussions on the Russia-Ukraine war and the expected meeting with the Iranian President amid Middle East tensions.