On July 6–7, the BRICS held their seventeenth summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Created in 2009 the BRICS underwent an expansion process in 2023 with five new members joining the bloc. In 2024, Indonesia also joined, participating this year for the first time as a full member. As usual, the leaders’ meeting concluded with a final declaration that includes a significant political component and a description of the cooperation advancements. Routinely employing vague language in its international political section, this year’s declaration is not an exception. However, it can offer some meaningful insights into the current situation and the future of the BRICS.
The most significant conclusion that can be drawn from this year’s summit is that disagreements have increased within the group. The geopolitical tensions among its members are not a new phenomenon. The dispute between China and India over their Himalayan border, as well as the heterogeneity in terms of political systems, recurrently appear as key points of contention. The differences in positioning regarding the West are another fundamental challenge faced by the group. Maintaining a non-aligned discourse,
Brazil, India, and South Africa have consistently refused to adopt an apparent schism with their European and North American partners. Although these differences hinder coordination in a few instances, the BRICS has managed to deepen its cooperation in the last seventeen years. However, new challenges have emerged from the group’s expansion, and this year’s summit demonstrates that.
The BRICS has always worked through consensus. For decades, the discourses proffered by its members after the summits attempted to emphasize an alleged unity within the group. This year, however, Iran has openly declared its discontentment with the declaration’s defense of the two-state solution in Palestine and Israel.
The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, has affirmed that the two-state solution is “unrealistic.” As Iran refuses to recognize the Israeli state, the declaration’s statement clashes with the Iranian official discourse. A public criticism made by a member of the group on the final declaration is a novelty in the BRICS.
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