VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. BRICS needs to follow the path turning it into the main driving force acting in the interests of the global majority, said Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, expert of the Valdai Club.
He was speaking at the session "Expanded BRICS: New Components of Global Stability" held as part of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). As the analyst noted, after its expansion the association has faced a "fork in the path."
"It (BRICS - TASS) has two alternative paths for further development. The first path, which I consider more preferential, naturally, is to maintain and even increase the intensity of cooperation and turn BRICS into the main driving force and institution of global governance and reform of global governance in the interests of the global majority, in the interests of the developing countries of the world," he said.
"The question on the agenda is how BRICS should position itself after expansion. This is how it should be: it is the vanguard of the global majority," Suslov added.
According to him, the second path is turning BRICS "into a loose discussion club, participation in which is prestigious, does not entail any obligations and where, in fact, there is no decision-making mechanism."
In order to follow the first path and avoid the second, three main priorities are needed, the analyst said.
"The first is the main focus on the issues of global governance, especially in the area of finance and in the area of forming a new system of settlements between countries, namely, reducing the role of the dollar and, above all, creating a new settlement mechanism independent of the United States and the Western system in general," the analyst listed.
"The second is increasing the flexibility of BRICS within the framework of the agenda and cooperation projects between the countries of the association. And the third is slowing down the expansion process. Not stopping the expansion process, but slowing it down and focusing, above all, on strengthening partnership relations between BRICS and other countries of the global majority," the analyst said.
Also, according to the expert, BRICS needs to form a new ecosystem of trade, economic and financial relations in the world - "not against the West, but without it." In addition, Suslov stressed that BRICS should not "become a counterpart of the UN General Assembly, because this will make the function of the association meaningless."
The Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) is underway on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok on September 3-6, 2024. The main theme of the EEF in 2024 is "Far East 2030. Combining strengths to create new potential."
EEF 2024 business activities are broken down into seven thematic blocks: "New contours of international cooperation," "Technologies to ensure independence," "Financial system of values," "the Russian Far East," "People, education and patriotism," "Transport and logistics: new routes," and "Master plans: from architecture to economy." The Roscongress Foundation has served as the Forum’s organizer since 2016. TASS is the general information partner of the EEF.