Brazil, Russia, India, and China originally formed the bloc in 2009 after a series of meetings and understandings. The first BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 16 of the same year, where the heads of states in question agreed to strengthen dialogue and cooperation between them. The following year, in Brasilia, Brazil, in April 2010, the second Summit was held, where the leaders of these countries emphasized the necessity of a multidimensional global intergovernmental system. Then, at their third meeting in New York in September 2010, the BRICs agreed on the entry of South Africa. South Africa managed to join after a strong effort as a result of its active foreign policy, changing this coalition of states from “BRIC” to “BRICS”.
At the Fourth Summit in March 2012 in New Delhi, India, the first announcement was made of the establishment of a New Development Bank (NDB), which was formalized at their Fifth Summit in Durban, South Africa, in 2013, with the clear intention of the independence of BRICS from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the US, and the European Union. The agreement for its establishment, after resolving disputes over organizational issues, was finally reached in 2014 during the sixth BRICS meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil.
According to Isidoros Karderinis, BRICS countries comprise 40% of the world’s population, which amounts to over 3.1 billion people. BRICS coexists with countries of different degrees of development and different strategies.
Brazil is the largest country in South America, both in population (about 213 million) and in area, as it occupies 1/3 of South America by itself. It is also the fourth richest country in the Americas in terms of GDP. However, it does not have the appropriate infrastructure (inadequate road and rail network, inadequate port infrastructure, etc.), and in combination with extreme economic inequality (1 in 4 citizens lives in absolute poverty), it does not allow it to emerge as an economic superpower. According to the World Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, Brazil ranked 108th among 137 economies in 2017 in terms of the general quality of its infrastructure. Corruption scandals are also present in the country. Brazil deals with regional issues.
Russia, which is the world’s largest transcontinental country of global influence and a large economy, also possesses the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet and enormous military power, which it has used in Syria and now in Ukraine. Russia provides the best standard of living for its residents compared to the rest of the BRICS countries, with 3.5% of GDP spent on education and 3.1% on public health. The number of residents living below the poverty line amounts to just 0.2% of its population. The Russian economy suffers, however, from the critical problem of corruption—which exists in all countries to a greater or lesser degree—as well as from the significant lack of banking infrastructure due to insufficiently developed financial markets, difficulty in obtaining loans, and limited investment options.
India is an emerging world power with a growing economy. It is currently the fifth-largest economy in the world based on its GDP, while its territory is home to the second-largest population in the world, after that of China, reaching close to 1.4 billion people. The country’s GDP growth has been among the highest in the world over the past decade, achieving an annual growth of between 6-7%. However, India has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world while facing huge social problems at home due to poverty. India has the lowest percentages of GDP spent on education
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