Seminar highlights relevance of BRICS

The BRICS collective is gaining global significance and will act as a catalyst in the transition from a unipolar world order to a multipolar one, former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan said here on Friday.

He was inaugurating a seminar at the Russian Cultural Centre on the importance of the 8th BRICS summit to be held in Goa on October 15 and 16.

Financial collective

BRICS is primarily a financial collective that aims at developing trade relations among the members, taking advantage of the fact that around 42 per cent of the world’s population reside in these five countries. Therefore, the group gives precedence to economic matters over domestic and foreign affairs of the member nations.

However, shaky bilateral relations among members, such as that of India and China, will act as a constraint for creative global interventions by BRICS, Mr. Sreenivasan said.

The 8th summit may attract global attention not just through decisions that will boost economic cooperation between the member nations, but also through potential announcements regarding the Indo-Pak bilateral issue.

Mary George, economist, said that the establishment of the New Development Bank is the biggest achievement by BRICS so far. Once it becomes possible for member nations to conduct trade with their own currencies, economic relations will improve vastly.