BRICS

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The idea of a BRICS-like group can be traced back to Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov and to the two forums RIC (Russia, India, China) and IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa).^[1] BRIC was originally a term coined by British economist Jim O'Neill and later championed by his employer Goldman Sachs in 2001 to designate the group of emerging markets.^[2][3] The first summit in 2009 featured the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, where they adopted the acronym BRIC and formed an informal diplomatic club^[4] where their governments could meet annually at formal summits and coordinate multilateral policies.^[5][6] In April 2010, South Africa attended the 2nd BRIC summit as a guest. In September 2010, they joined the organization which was then renamed BRICS, and attended the 3rd BRICS summit in 2011 as a full member.^[7][8] Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as member states in 2024 in Russia.^[9] Indonesia officially joined as a member state in early 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member.^[10][11] The acronym BRICS+ (in its expanded form BRICS Plus) has been informally used to reflect new membership since 2024.^[9][12][13]

Some in the West consider BRICS the alternative to the G7.^[12] Others describe the grouping as an incoherent joining of countries around increasing anti-Western and anti-American objectives.^[14] Together BRICS has implemented competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS PAY, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication^[15] and the BRICS basket reserve currency.^[16] In its first 15 years BRICS has established almost 60 intra-group institutions, and think tanks to dialogues, covering agenda in 34 subjects.^[17] The original five members and Indonesia are also part of the G20. BRICS has received both praise and criticism from numerous commentators and world leaders.^{[18][19][20][21][22]}