Brics Leaders Skipping Rio Summit Could Mark Its Decline

With a new tariff threat, at least Trump is taking group of developing nations seriously

- Jonathan Eyal

LONDON - The Brics summit in Brazil should have been the perfect forum to advance the grouping of developing nations' key purpose: a move away from a Western-dominated world towards a more inclusive and fair global governance structure.

Coming soon after the Israeli and American bombing of Iran and just when the US threatens to unleash another round of global trade tariffs, the joint statement issued on July 7 as the summit concluded in Rio de Janeiro duly criticised Israel's military actions in the Middle East. And members also expressed "serious concerns" about the rise in trade tariffs.

But the statement issued in Brazil's second-biggest city carefully refrained from pointing an accusing finger at US President Donald Trump. And with the leaders of both China and Russia skipping the event, the Brazil summit will largely be remembered as a missed opportunity.

The question now is whether poor participation in the Rio gathering represents just a diplomatic hiccup, or is a harbinger for Brics' decline.

British economist Jim O'Neill coined the acronym "Bric" in a 2001 paper in reference to Brazil, Russia, India, and China - countries that exemplified how big and rapidly emerging developing economies were about to transform the world. South Africa's 2010 entry made it "Brics".

Since their first official summit in 2009, the Brics nations' promise to construct a fairer world has sounded persuasive, particularly since the Group of Seven (G-7) grouping of the most industrialised Western nations failed to shed its image of exclusivity.

At the same time, the so-called Group of Twenty (G-20) of the world's biggest economies created at the start of this century struggled to establish itself as a new global forum for development and political reform.