BRICS Grouping:
The Union Ministry of External Affairs recently met with his BRICS counterparts to affirm its role in a multipolar world.
- BRICS’ Grouping is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, a bloc of countries that formed a partnership following the creation of the term in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill (but it didn’t include South Africa at the time).
- South Africa joined in 2010, making it “BRICS”.
- The group was designed to bring together the world’s most important developing countries to challenge the political and economic power of the wealthier nations of North America and Western Europe.
- The BRICS countries operate as an organization that seeks to further economic cooperation among member nations and increase their economic and political standing in the world.
- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt joined BRICS in 2024.
- The expanded group has a combined population of about 3.5 billion, or 45% of the world’s inhabitants.
- Combined, members’ economies are worth more than $28.5tn – about 28% of the global economy.
- With Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE as members, Brics countries produce about 44% of the world’s crude oil.
