Every continent of the world, minus North America and Australia, was represented when the Foreign Ministers of the BRICS nations—of which there are now 20, when full and partner members are counted—met in Rio de Janeiro on April 28-29. High on their agenda was their “serious concern at the prospect of a fragmented global economy and the weakening of multilateralism,” reports the final statement issued by the chair, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira. They urged “the BRICS spirit,” of “mutual respect and understanding, equality, solidarity, openness, inclusiveness, and consensus,” be mobilized to counter “escalating antagonisms … [which] will not lead to peace or development,” such as deepening geopolitical tensions, economic downturns, protectionist measures, migratory crises, among others.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was more blunt in his April 29 press conference following the meeting: “[M]ost of the delegations talked about the destructive nature of the policy coming from the collective West.... By the way, the West may have become less united lately, even if all Western representatives have the same goal, which consists of continuing to live at the expense of others by relying on neo-colonial practices. This includes unilateral illegitimate sanctions, abusing their currencies within the international financial system and using unjustified protectionist measures in trade, as well as tariff wars, which have been the talk of the town these days. We noted that the Western Minority is rocking the international financial and economic architecture and could cause major disruptions as it attempts to hold on to its waning dominance and continue to benefit from competitive advantages at the expense of others.”
The declaration diplomatically makes clear there is agreement on the need for unity and action to rebuild a world system based on equality, sovereignty and technological development, but not on how to get there. The Ministers “underscored the importance of the enhanced use of local currencies in trade and financial settlements between BRICS countries and their trade partners,” but work must “continue” on establishing the mechanisms proposed at the November 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, meaning there is no agreement yet on when or how to establish them. Those range from a cross-border payment system, to an electronic depository and clearance system (BRICS Clear), a unified mechanism for exchanging trade and economic information, and insurance and reinsurance variants for new trading platforms for grains and possibly other raw materials.