BRICS is important because it’s a non-western economic grouping. In a world where Russia and China are increasingly at odds with the West, any meetings where Russia and China are present with a series of other countries has potential to undermine the West and the US-led world order which was established at the end of the Cold War.
Many countries such as Iran have been seeking to play a larger role in work with Russia and China in recent years; and also in outreach to India. Iran, for instance, seeks to play a role in the SCO and CICA, other groups of countries that include China or Central Asian states. Iran joined the SCO this year.
More countries see BRICS as a rising force
BRICS began by including major large countries from various continents, such as Brazil from the Americas and South Africa from Africa. India dominates South Asia and China and Russia are obvious members as well. However, the new drive by almost two dozen countries to join shows how they sense that BRICS is a rising group and they want to pursue an independent policy away from the West, or at least in complementary fashion to the Western dominated world order. The West, for instance, dominates groups like the G7. READ MORE
