RIO DE JANEIRO, August 22. /TASS/. The summit of the BRICS association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which begins on Tuesday in Johannesburg in South Africa, will be the most important in its history, Brazilian political scientist Mauricio Santoro said.

"This is the most important meeting in BRICS’ entire history as it will address at least three very important topics. The most significant one being about countries that want to join BRICS. They include both politically and economically important states, such as Indonesia, and more modest in this respect countries, which, however, have considerable weight in international affairs, such as Cuba and the United Arab Emirates," he said in an interview with the Globo newspaper’s Ao Ponto podcast.

Another Brazilian expert, Leonardo Trevisan of the Sao-Paolo-based Higher School of Advertising and Marketing, also pointed to differences between the candidates for BRICS membership, a topic of disagreement among the BRICS nations. That is why, in his words, Brasilia wants to expand the relevant criteria. "Saudi Arabia, with its powerful oil-sector, is not the same as Cuba. Hence, criteria are needed. If any bloc expands too much, its significance will go down," he stressed.

According to Oliver Stuenkel of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, the current summit "will be the least predictable one since BRICS’ establishment." "Vetoing admission of new members has a political price, a price Brazil is not ready to pay if it is the only BRICS member that objects to expansion," he said, adding that the association’s expansion will seriously influence how it operates.

The experts agree however that Brazil is afraid that it may lose much of its political influence in case of a wide expansion. Moreover, in such an event, BRICS’ foreign policy will largely meet Moscow and Beijing’s interests, which will lead to an escalation of tension in relations with Europe and the United States in the current situation.

BRICS without Brazil?

Meanwhile, Brazil’s former Ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States Rubens Barbosa thinks that BRICS’ expansion does not conflict with Brazil’s interests. "Brazil is the only one in BRICS who votes differently on Ukraine than the others. Being among ten or fifteen members who will vote like China or Russia on such topics as human rights, democracy, or the war in Ukraine, Brazil will find itself more and more isolated within this group. If a large number of countries are admitted, Brazil will have no choice but to withdraw from the group and take an independent position as a leader of the South," he said.

About BRICS

The BRIC group was established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, when their ministers of economy met on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (in June), and Russian, Brazilian, and Chinese foreign ministers and India’s defense minister met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (in September). In July 2008, the leaders of the four countries held talks in the Japanese city of Toyako on the margins of the Group of Eight nations, where the Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian leaders were invited as guests. The first BRIC summit took place in Yekaterinburg, Russia in June 2009.

In 2011, South Africa joined the group, adding the "S" to the acronym.

BRICS summit in Johannesburg

The 15th BRICS summit is being held between August 22 and 24 in Johannesburg, South Africa. With the leaders of 54 African nations invited, this will be the biggest meeting of the heads of state and government of the Global South in recent years. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the summit via a video link. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent Russia in South Africa in person. According to the Kremlin press service, the summit is expected to be documented by a declaration committing to paper the leaders’ agreements.