MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. The rapid development of the BRICS association, which is becoming a new pole of power, has raised the question about the relevance of the Group of Twenty (G20), Andrey Koshkin, the head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the Plekhanov Russian Economic University, has told TASS.
"The G20 is in decline. It is going obsolete as a platform that has absorbed everything it was able to. This does not mean that it should be closed down. It can continue to function somehow further on. But as of today, there has appeared BRICS. The G20 is becoming questionable," he said.
"BRICS is a rapidly developing platform. Today it unites the East and the global South, which the G7 is in the habit of brushing aside as garbage," the expert pointed out, emphasizing that the US, the hegemon within the G7, is not helping its allies, but, on the contrary, bleeding them white.
BRICS member states are now overtaking the G7 countries in terms of output, Koshkin emphasized.
"Of course, in the 1980s, the G7, I should say, accounted for around 50% of world production, while BRICS in 2023 contributed something like 35%. Already now the G7’s share is down to 30% of world production. A very impressive slump it is. BRICS is already overtaking them, if you look at the indicators showing the trends of these two platforms: G7 and BRICS +," he noted.
"Today we are offering the whole world, I should say, a chance to act in concert to form a new pole of forces. An association of countries constituting a new pole power," the expert emphasized.
Koshkin speculates that BRICS can contribute a great deal to reforming such organizations as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations (UN).
"In the globalized world, everyone talks about reforming the WTO, the IMF, and the UN, but there has been no force capable of accomplishing that. Now a force is born that will rise to the expectations of many countries around the world to reform the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, and the UN. Everyone agrees that it is necessary to reform them, but there has been no such force so far. For example, China alone cannot cope with this task. Russia cannot cope with it either, should they try to act on their own. BRICS can succeed," Koshkin believes.
BRICS summit
The 16th summit of the BRICS heads of state, which is the key event of Russia's chairmanship of the association, will be held in Kazan on October 22-24.
BRICS was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining it in 2011. On January 1, 2024, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia became the group’s full members.
The Kazan summit will be the first to be attended by new members of the association. Representatives of more than 30 countries are expected to be present. Among the foreign leaders who will arrive in Kazan are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith.