BRICS overview for UPSC
BRICS (BRIC formerly) is an Informal Association of 5 countries namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, formed by the initiative of Russia in the year 2006. The term ‘BRICS’ was coined after the first letter from the first name of its 5 member countries. The headquarters of BRICS is located at the BRICS tower, Shanghai, China
History of BRICS
Russia’s initiative of forming BRIC took shape at the first BRIC Foreign Ministers meeting, held in September 2006 on the margins of the 61st UN General Assembly Session in New York. It was attended by the foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, and China and the then Defence Minister of India Mr Pranab Mukherjee took part on behalf of India.
After several levels of meeting, the 1st annual BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009. The association was later renamed BRICS when South Africa joined as a permanent member at the BRIC foreign ministers meeting held in September 2010, in New York.
The BRICS annual summit comprising the leaders of 5 member states takes place once every year, and the works of BRICS will be based on the action plan approved during the annual year.
Significance of BRICS
BRICS Association is considered an important organization in the world because it is a convergence of 5 major economies which accounts for 24% of world GDP, 41% of the world population, 29.3% of the total land surface of the world and 16% of world trade.
Objectives of BRICS
BRICS functions on the basis of 3 main objectives, They are Political Security, Economic and Financial Security, and Cultural & People-to-people exchanges.
- To enhance cooperation and dialogue on issues of global and regional security, developments in the global political space as well as the reform of the multilateral system to make it relevant for the 21st century.
- To promote economic growth and development for mutual prosperity through expansion of intra-BRICS cooperation in sectors such as trade, agriculture, infrastructure, small and medium enterprises, energy, finance & banking etc.
- To enrich intra-BRICS people-to-people contacts in cultural, academic, youth, sports, and business, through regular exchanges.
