SHANGHAI, August 18. /TASS/. More countries joining the BRICS+ partnership and wider use of local currencies in settlements could help accelerate de-dollarization. Sun Qi, executive director of the Center for the Study of Russia and Central Asia at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, voiced this opinion talking to TASS on Friday.
"As more and more countries join the ranks of BRICS + partners, the transition to settlements in local currency or third-party currencies in mutual trade will increase significantly, thereby accelerating de-dollarization," the expert said.
Speaking about the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa, Sun Qi noted that one of the pressing issues on the agenda can be the creation of a single BRICS currency. "BRICS Pay, used for transactions between the BRICS countries, can be discussed in detail," the expert believes.
Another important topic at the summit, as Sun Qi expects, will be the expansion of the association. In this regard, the expert drew attention to the attractiveness of the BRICS format as such, noting that its cooperation mechanism is based on the desire for development.
"In recent years, the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and other factors were superimposed on it. For most developing countries, development is a top priority. That is why the BRICS cooperation mechanism is attractive to these countries," he said.
China proposed to launch the BRICS expansion process in May 2022. After the summit in Beijing, which took place in June 2022, the preparatory process began. Shortly before this, the first applications were received - from Argentina and Iran. On June 1, 2023, at a meeting in Cape Town in South Africa, the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries considered the concept of expanding the group, but decided to send the document for revision. The next day, a meeting of "Friends of BRICS" was held, in which the foreign ministers of the countries-members of the community and 12 other states of the Global South, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, took part.
The BRICS summit will take place on August 22-24 in Johannesburg and will be chaired by South Africa. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Naledi Pandor, the leaders of the BRICS countries will discuss expansion of the organization. According to her, 23 countries have filed applications for joining the association.