Andrey Maslov made a presentation on BRICS at the RIAC round table

On August 25, 2023, the RIAC round table on the results of the BRICS summit, which took place in South Africa on August 22-24, 2023, was held at the Izvestia Media Center. Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, spoke about the results of the XV BRICS Summit and the prospects for the organization's development through the creation of new institutions and admission of new members.

Andrey Maslov, Victoria Panova

© Eduard Kornienko / Izvestia

• Mr. Maslov, how do you assess South Africa's chairmanship of BRICS?
• I strongly agree with the thesis about its impressive results in terms of expansion. Two African countries have been added, and the summit itself has actually become a summit of BRICS and Africa - all African leaders received invitations, and many of them came. We know how much pressure the West exerts on African countries not to attend such events. We carefully monitor the situation: the day before the summit, only two African leaders confirmed their participation, while eighteen actually came. Forty-two countries were represented, mostly at the level of first persons, foreign ministers or representative delegations.
  
  The summit is the continuation of the diplomatic process that began in St. Petersburg. We realize that many elements of the agenda for future enlargement were discussed there, including the BRICS partnership architecture with Africa.
  
  Remarkably, BRICS partnership country format should be presented by the next summit. This form of interaction will be more formalized, and we will look very carefully at who will be included in it. At the same time, our partners will look at the opportunities opened for them and the obligations provided by their participation.
  
  The issue of deepening institutions is now becoming paramount. There used to be a dilemma: to expand or to deepen, which is more primary. But the expansion has happened, so we need to focus on deepening ties.
  
  For fifteen years, the BRICS innovative format has been effective. It is often called a discussion club, but, in fact, it is a new format organization, and a mechanism of its interaction has already been developed. BRICS has no secretariat, no budget, no staff, but at the same time the leaders give instructions to their subordinates, their staffs, and their executive agencies following the meetings. These instructions are coordinated with each other, and this is how BRICS works.
  
  Now it is very important what instructions will be given as a result of the Summit. The same issue of transition to trade in national currencies is not just a formula that is repeated again and again. It is a set of decisions that have to be made, such as creating reserves, connecting to mutual financial payment systems <...>. We will see how this process will further develop.
• What are the prospects for deepening cooperation within BRICS? Do we have any prerequisites for deeper institutionalization?
• The most prominent BRICS institution is the New Development Bank. <...> From the point of view of the global financial system, which is still unified and monopolistic, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are donors, while Egypt and Ethiopia are borrowers.  The UAE lends to them bilaterally. Let us now see how their relationship will be affected by joining BRICS. It is good news that there is a bank, you don't need to create it, you need to fill it with assets, liabilities and specific operational activities.
  
  In Russia, there is the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Center. Egypt and many BRICS aspirant countries have long been in its cooperation loop. This center will expand its activities.
  
  Of course, we now need to integrate and create new institutions. Our work before the Summit in Kazan is to prepare specific initiatives under the auspices of BRICS that will work for Russia and Africa.
• More and more often in the media BRICS is contrasted with the G7. There are a lot of economic comparisons between them. For example, in terms of GDP, BRICS makes up] 37.3% of the world economy, while the G7 makes up 29.9%t. In the G7, unlike the BRICS, there is some disciplineю They say, “let's impose sanctions on Russia” and everyone agrees. What are the prospects for coherent work within the BRICS, given that there will no longer be five, but eleven countries. Will their cooperation be unified?
• I should note that the G7 has never sought to expand, but the US-controlled institutions have shown expansionism throughout their history. Now their expansionism has reached its maximum, they simply cannot expand further, although they would like to. We have seen that Finland was admitted to NATO, which is a symbolic response. If they like to contrast BRICS with their institutions, this is our response, which is not comparable to Finland's case in terms of level and scale.
  
  Talking about its coherence, the BRICS’ structural heterogeneity will be a good alternative to the hierarchy of the G7. Depending on the issue, there will be different decision-making schemes, there will be different weighting of one country or another depending on what aspect of engagement is being considered or what region. If it is an African issue, the BRICS respects the principle of “African problems - African solutions.” If it's a security issue, which is more and more important, then the UN Security Council member countries will have a stronger voice. If it is about finance, you have to look at the authorized capital of the New Bank; accordingly, the votes will be proportional to these holdings. This structural heterogeneity contains advantages in the long term.
• Do Russia and South Africa have common approaches to African countries?
• The South African leader came to St. Petersburg twice in July, so, of course, our approaches are common. It is very important to realize that South Africa is a part of Africa, but it does not represent the whole continent.  It is important to realize that the platform for interaction with Africa is an association, for example, the Afro-Union. In our case, there is the Russia-Africa format. Ethiopia's participation in BRICS has a self-sufficient value: it represents Africa hardly less than South Africa, because Ethiopia has always been an independent country, was the founder of the Organization of African Unity. Since the headquarters of the African Union is in Ethiopia, it is such an assembly point for pan-African initiatives. Just like Egypt, the African vector in its foreign policy and foreign economic engagement is becoming more and more prominent. In addition, there is also Algeria, which is our partner, and we shouldn’t forget about it. It hasn’t been included in the contour of the expansion yet, to my deep regret, but we are confident that it will remain Russia's strategic partner.
  
  As for the common approaches with South Africa, I believe that the next step is to develop a unified BRICS platform with regard to Africa. <...> There is a need for more concrete joint BRICS initiatives in Africa. We now see that China and France have some joint projects in Africa in infrastructure, energy, oil and gas worth tens of billions of dollars, and this is an old trend. But it’s the first time for BRICS countries to implement such projects, platforms and initiatives, and this is what we all are waiting for.
• Which countries in Africa could become new BRICS members?
• After all, the G7 was a system of minority power, when the most developed countries, made decisions for everyone, referring to some authority, the weight of their economies. It seems to me that the inclusion of Ethiopia in BRICS is an important step to demonstrate that BRICS does not seek to become a new minority that will compete with that old one for running the world. BRICS is a much more inclusive structure. Ethiopia has both poverty and low GDP per capita, famine happens there from time to time. Despite the development challenges within the country, Ethiopia will make equal decisions. This is a very important step that has to demonstrate that their interests will be taken into account.
  
  In terms of further expansion, I would certainly put Algeria at the top of the list, because it is a country with an independent foreign policy, playing a constructive role in the security field, and is the largest supplier of energy resources in the world. They have already made concrete offers to join the capital of the New Development Bank. 
  
  Moreover, Nigeria, being a leader in terms of GDP, could also join BRICS, but we have to see what their political agenda and orientation will be.
  
  The full video version is accessible via the link.