‘BRICS Is Not Anti-West, De-dollarisation Not On Cards’

<p>Notwithstanding the increasing onslaught of tariffs and constant criticism of the BRICS grouping, India has said that the multilateral forum will emerge as a &ldquo;strong entity&rdquo; even as it has dispelled notions propagated by the United States that the bloc is anti-Western that is aiming to undermine the importance of Dollar.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The members of BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Indonesia.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We are faced with multilateralism versus unilateralism. For the first time you feel that multilateralism was right &hellip; BRICS has done something in the recent past that has attracted new members to join. They see a benefit in the membership of BRICS. Expansion of the BRICS is relevant with the times,&rdquo; Dammu Ravi, Secretary (ER), Ministry of External Affairs, said at an event organised by the Indian Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He said, BRICS membership is expanding because &ldquo;Nations have become more aspirational and when they become aspirational they find entities where they can speak more clearly and more loudly and the BRICS is very apt that way to capture those voices around the world.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>During the last BRICS Summit that took place under the chairmanship of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on 6-7 July, geopolitical tensions were high not only due the Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine wars but also due to the tariff war that U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed globally using tariff as a weapon.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As the Summit was underway last month, Trump, who has been a vehement critic of BRICS, threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on all the members of the diverse grouping.</p>
<p>The President of Brazil Luiz In&aacute;cio Lula da Silva who was the host of this year&rsquo;s Summit said, &ldquo;We are witnessing an unprecedented collapse of multilateralism.&rdquo; In the joint declaration that was issued post the Summit, member countries highlighted &ldquo;serious concerns&rdquo; arising out of &ldquo;proliferation of trade-restrictive actions, whether in the form of indiscriminate rising of tariffs and nontariff measures.&rdquo;</p>
<p>According to Ravi, BRICS is also becoming an attractive forum for most developing nations due to the New Development Bank (NDB) that does not attach any conditions with it. &ldquo;The NDB is a great attraction for member countries&rdquo; compared to multilateral banks such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) &ndash; the tradition Bretton Woods institutions.</p>
<p>He also said that discussions are now on within the BRICS members of settling transactions concerning trade in national currencies. &ldquo;This is deeply empowering for countries,&rdquo; said Ravi.</p>
<p>Anil Sooklal, High Commissioner of South Africa to India, said, the entire imbroglio against BRICS opting for an alternative currency to the Dollar was a notion that was propagated by the West.</p>
<p>&ldquo;De-dollarisation was never the plan and it was never part of the agenda. It was deliberately put out in the public domain by countries from Global North that the BRICS is seeking to create its own currency. It was not on the agenda, nor it is in the agenda now in terms of creating own currency&hellip; This created some kind of hysteria and uncertainty,&rdquo; the South African envoy highlighted.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Vladimir Ladanov, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Russia in India, underscored the aspect that the BRICS never encouraged a &ldquo;confrontational&rdquo; posture against the developed world.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Keeping in mind that the true balance of interests can be achieved only through inclusivity, the grouping has never promoted any confrontational anti-West agenda but advocated a greater role of the World Majority in the decision-making process across the entire spectrum of issues on the international agenda,&rdquo; Ladanov said.</p>
<p>The Russian diplomat also highlighted that the &ldquo;By advocating for reform of the international financial system, diversifying economic partnerships, and fostering innovation, BRICS is helping to reshape the global economic landscape, ensuring that developing nations have the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and complex world.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Challenges Facing BRICS</h2>
<p>According to Ravi, with the membership of BRICS expanding, consensus-building on key issues has become a &ldquo;major challenge&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As membership grows, it is not easy to find consensus. And we have seen in our negotiations that under a global crisis we have not been able to find a solution,&rdquo; he said, adding issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict is an extremely &ldquo;emotional&rdquo; issue for some members.</p>
<p>He also said, the language on terrorism is not uniform amongst the BRICS membership. &ldquo;There is broad understanding but not very specific.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Ladanov added, &ldquo;While the challenges ahead are significant, our combined potential provides a solid foundation for addressing the complexities of the 21st century and ensuring that the future is shaped by the interests of all nations rather than a select few. The success of BRICS is a clear testimony to tectonic shifts in the global economic and geopolitical landscape towards a pluralistic system with a meaningful role of emerging powers.&rdquo;</p>