Navigating a tricky new era for Brics

The bloc has expanded and gained global heft. But its ability to articulate a singular vision will be tested during a period of global uncertainty

- Sreeram Chaulia

The 17th summit of the Brics group of emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, offered insights into an institution undergoing profound changes amid an extremely disorderly and unsettling international situation.

In form and shape, Brics is a transformed entity today. With the admission of Indonesia this year as a full member, Brics has morphed from a minilateral club of five nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - into a medium-sized multilateral entity with broader representation. The admission of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates inside the tent, and the presence of 10 more partner countries including Nigeria and Vietnam, which are apparently waiting in the wings to also come in, mean that the Brics family has multiplied and is embarking on a second innings since it was first founded in 2009.

Counting full members and partner countries together, Brics has 20 nations under its ambit, as if it were a parallel G20 comprising only EMDCs. It is in recognition of this expanded reality that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for redefining the very acronym Brics so as not to indicate the initials of the names of the five core members but to convey a shared functional purpose of 'Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability'.