BRICS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – International Relations)

Context: Next week's (August 22-24) Brics Summit in South Africa will see the largest gathering so far at an event of the bloc, with the hosts inviting more than 60 countries, enabling Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a series of meetings including with some of the African leaders on the sidelines of the Summit.

About BRICS

• It  is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (included in 2010)
• Founded By: 2009
• Headquarter: Shanghai
• The heads of the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) gathered for the first occasion in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006.
• BRICS is a significant alliance that gathers the major growing economies. These countries make up 41% of the global population, contribute to 24% of the world's GDP, and are responsible for more than 16% of the world's trade.
• In December 2010, South Africa received an invitation to become a part of BRIC, leading to the adoption of the acronym BRICS for the group.

Initiatives of the BRICS

• New Development Bank: At the 2014 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, leaders signed the agreement for the New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai, China, which has approved 70 projects for infrastructure and sustainable development.
• BRICS Payment System: The BRICS nations are working on establishing an alternative payment system to replace SWIFT.
• Satellite: A constellation of remote sensing satellites has been launched in collaboration with BRICS nations.