MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. Brazil, which has taken over as the BRICS group’s president this year, will focus on relations with partner countries and de-dollarization issues, Dmitry Suslov, the deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, has told TASS.
"The main emphasis should be and will be placed precisely on relations with partner countries," said Suslov, an expert of the Valdai Discussion Club. "The more so, since the official position of Brazil is entirely coherent with Russia’s in that further near-term expansion of BRICS is not expedient, while it is essential to achieve the maximum content, to put the emphasis on partnership and pay the maximum attention to it".
The creation of a group of partners is the main result of the Russian presidency, Suslov emphasized. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, starting from January 1, 2025 the BRICS partner countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Among them, according to the expert, there are really significant countries of the post-Soviet space and southeast Asia. "The main challenge of the Brazilian presidency is to start working on this platform, to invite the relevant countries to BRICS events - to all or almost all of them - but without giving them the right of veto, when it comes to decision-making," he pointed out.
Speaking about the content of the Brazilian presidency, the expert noted that Brazil, like Russia, was in favor of de-dollarization. Besides, it is also one of the main priorities of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "Therefore, the work on the creation of alternative payment systems and alternative settlement systems will continue throughout the Brazilian presidency. Also, the Brazilian presidency will press for a greater role of the Global South in global governance," he added.
Compressed agenda
Suslov believes that the Brazilian presidency will be different from Russia’s, at least because "the BRICS summit will take place as early as next July."
"This means that the program of the Brazilian presidency will be significantly compressed. Apparently, there will be fewer events than were held during the Russian presidency (more than 250)," he explained.
At the same time, the political scientist remarked it was no coincidence that Russia at the level of Deputy Foreign Minister and BRICS Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov declared its readiness to hold some of the events of the association on its own territory, "aware that Brazil, apparently, is not set up to host such a large number of events the way Russia did."
The fact that the summit is scheduled for the summer, as the Valdai expert believes, "means that all the main events at other levels, including ministerial meetings, sports competitions, a civil society summit and so on, should take place before that."
"Apparently, this is so because Brazil is ending its G20 presidency and immediately beginning its BRICS presidency," Suslov pointed out. "It is also important to note that Brazil will have some substantive continuity with its G20 presidency. The issues that Brazil prioritized for its G20 presidency - poverty alleviation and development issues - will also be central to its BRICS presidency, Suslov added.