The BRICS+ group involves emerging productive economies or raw material suppliers. They want to build a fairer global governance, and that clashes with a West that wants to continue to govern and regulate international economic flows.

BRICS+ is not a trade bloc, but a club to boost economic cooperation and create alternatives to financial hegemony in the West. From there, they want to promote their political, social and cultural emancipation, respecting the sovereignty of each country. This year the group has gathered about 200 times to drive collaboration on sectoral issues such as academic collaboration, underwater cabling, the TV project Brics or the V Edition of the Durango Fair. To organize BRICS games.

Between 22 and 24 October, the 16th BRICS+ Summit took place in Kazan, Russia. Following the dissemination that took place in January 2024, it was the first with nine countries. The group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is joined by four other members: United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran. Saudi Arabia has not yet given a yes to the operation and has kept one leg outside and another inside the Islamic Republic. That is why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia on October 23 to prevent the King of that country from moving to Kazan. As a result, Saudi Arabia sent its foreign minister, Mohamed Hollande, to Russia.

The summit involved 37 countries and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. However, the European Union made Serbia a move similar to that made to Saudi Arabia by the United States. Indeed, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was wrong when 24 October was a good day to visit the capital Belgrade and talk to the Serbian president about the entry of the Balkan country into the EU. Otherwise, almost all other countries sent their respective Presidents or Heads of Government, as expected. One of the exceptions was Brazil, which sent the Foreign Minister, because Lula suffered a minor cerebral hemorrhage two days earlier that caused her death.

BRICS+ has prioritised no dissemination this year as it has to organise and consolidate the governance of the new team. In fact, the functioning of the working group is based on the consensus between different languages (language, religion, political vision, history…). Governments representing about 5 billion people participated in the meeting. That is why, pending further enlargements, the partner countries have been set in motion. Thirteen countries are invited to become partner partners: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. There was also agreement on the list that Venezuela should be, but it has finally been left out, because Brazil has blocked it.

However, the most important outcome of this summit was the creation of BRICS Clear, a settlement and clearing system, both for BRICS’s internal trade and for trade between BRICS and partner countries. The new system will prioritise the use of national currencies and become an alternative to the SWIFT system. Along with this element, a trade insurance company, BRICS (Re) Insurance Company, will be created. All this will continue to erode the hegemony of the dollar, slowly but steadily.