PANAJI
Speaking on the top “BRICS: Yesterday’s story or a sign of the coming times?” at ICG, Dona Paula, Sahni dissected the grouping, its relevance and its future in especially since there is a slowdown in the developing economies across the developing world.
“There is a growing sense that transformation of the structures of global governance is desperately and urgently needed. This is where the BRICS do become extremely relevant,” Prof Sahni said.
Prof Sahni however cautioned that the five BRICS countries would need to turn BRICS from a cooperation of five large countries into an organisation or in Portuguese it should move from Os BRICS to O BRICS.
Earlier, he had explained the motivations and desires of each of the countries that make up BRICS explaining that each had a different approach and what it sought from BRICS.
“For Russia, the participation in BRICS is entirely political with an aim to break out of its international political isolation and a statement to NATO, the EU and the US that it cannot be taken for granted and has many cards in its hand,” Prof Sahni said.
For China, he said that its motivation was to challenge the world’s status quo with little cost to itself and a move to circumvent IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and make it redundant. He recalled how it was on Chinese invitation that South Africa became part of BRICS thereby making IBSA, which had left China and Russia out was now redundant.
“In the future it is pretty likely that IBSA meetings will take part on the sidelines of BRICS,” Prof Sahni volunteered.
For Brazil, being a part of BRICS was the best asset in its role as a global power, while South Africa which was a late entry, entered because no one could have opposed it.
“South Africa will use its BRICS membership to project itself as a leader in Africa and a permanent role in global government,” he said.
With regard to India, Prof Sahni said that India could not afford to be out.
Since India on one hand has an ideological opposition to hierarchy and a pragmatic willingness to achieve the best possible within the system, membership with BRICS moderates levels out a supposed proximity that New Delhi has with Washington and rebuilds old ties with Russia as well as provides a bridge with China.
