BRICS countries, A powerful group of the world : China Daily

[BJP*]

guys do u think BRIC is made up of it huge economic growth and the country's size?????

In my opinion
we have one from america's--brazil
and one from africa--south africa
and in asia we have China and india
and north asia we have Russia..

so we don't need any more countries in BRICS...
wat do u say???

BRIC is exclusively fastest growing economic group no other members are required.... even we have SA as an extra country

 

[milvipes]

I don't see South Africa as having the regional influence like the other members.

 

[Skull and Bones]

I don't see South Africa as having the regional influence like the other members.

But SA is having considerable influence in Africa.

 

[Veritas]

What a travesty, people are super excited about the term "BRIC" which is a word coined by a Goldman Sachs analyst? There is nothing really common about BRIC except, that they are tier II countries, that means lot of the other tier II countries like Mexico, Turkey etc. are left out.

Any BRIC can make all the noise on the planet, it just another Non-Alignment Movement, good to have someone with different point of view, but who is entirely ineffective.

In the World financial system only G8 matters.. ie G7 + China. Others will follow, with varying stripes of Independence.

 

[applesauce]

What a travesty, people are super excited about the term "BRIC" which is a word coined by a Goldman Sachs analyst? There is nothing really common about BRIC except, that they are tier II countries, that means lot of the other tier II countries like Mexico, Turkey etc. are left out.

Any BRIC can make all the noise on the planet, it just another Non-Alignment Movement, good to have someone with different point of view, but who is entirely ineffective.

In the World financial system only G8 matters.. ie G7 + China. Others will follow, with varying stripes of Independence.

G8 is G7+Russia, china in the G20

 

[1 ummah]

The BRICS countries met on the 14 April 2011, a bloc increasingly emerging as the new powers on the global scene that are driving most of the world’s economic growth.

The summit held in China promoted cooperation and criticized the western dominated global system. A joint communique, termed the Sanya declaration, stated the current system was no longer representative. BRICS was a term coined by Goldman Sachs investment banker Jim O'Neill to highlight Brazil, China, Russia and India's similarities in terms of their potential for development and growth. This concept has now turned into talking shop.

South Africa was invited to the 2011 annual get together, this was its first time at the summit and it has been included it into the emerging club. This allows it to show it represents the entire developing world. The summit criticized the current Libya operation and the destabilising capital inflows to emerging markets by Western institutions.

The group has asked for certain changes to the global financial system. These included a call for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to expand its use of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which are used as a quasi currency to transfer funds between member governments. The BRICS called for a broad-based international reserve currency system "providing stability and certainty". The joint communiqué said "The governing structure of the international financial institutions should reflect the changes in the world economy, increasing the voice and representation of emerging economies and d eveloping countries." The BRICS also called for a greater say on the UN Security Council, on which only China and Russia of the group have a permanent seat.

Despite being called the world’s developing countries all the constituents of the bloc are different militarily and economically and where they are in their respective stages of development.

Brazil has traditionally exported commodities and minerals to the US and Europe, but Chinese demand is changing the equation for Brazil's agriculture. This has resulted in China becoming its number one import partner, which in turn has led to cheap Chinese goods flooding the Latin American nation at the expense of its own industries.

Russia is a largely commodities driven nation with extensive reserves of the world’s key minerals and resources. Russia is the largest global exporter of most of the commodities needed for industry. Russia’s resurgence has simply changed its supply of massive reserves of energy from the West and the former Soviet territories to the East.

India, whilst still early in its development is a global leader as a provider of services. Unlike Brazil and Russia, which have built their economies on commodities exports, India has transformed from an economy that was dominated by agriculture to one where the service sector generates 54% of the nation’s wealth. Business services such as IT and business process outsourcing contribute 33% to the total output of services. India for the moment has failed to become a mass manufacturer like the other BRICS countries and as a result still imports much of its manufactured goods from China.

China in a matter of decades has become the world’s factory, producing the world’s textiles and high-end hi-tech products such as semi-conductors and solar panels. It produces these at prices that undercut every other country in the world. This has turned China into a global exports powerhouse, but it has also become a massive consumer of energy which is necessary to fuel such exports.

Such differences have all been formalised into a bloc, these differences will always be an obstacle in the way of any meaningful alliance or agreement. The result of a union coming together on perceived similarities and interests is the fracturing of the alliance by the national interests of participating nations. Each of the nations will attempt to gain their own interests through the bloc rather than unite on a global agenda. The sheer size of China and its imports impacts all decisions.

The 2011 summit was heavily influenced by China who made trade deals with all the other nations in order to strengthen itself. It then made many rhetorical calls for change in the global system established by the colonial powers. India and China are rivals and do not trust each other in Asia. Both have gone to war in the past over disputed borders in Kashmir, and India is worried over the China-Pakistan all season’s relationship. It was with Chinese help Pakistan developed its nuclear weapons. China on the other hand views India’s relationship with the US as another attempt to contain it in South Asia.

Russia and China are also rivals battling for central Asia. Both nations distrust each other as they are vying for similar territories even though they are both quasi strategic partners due to common enemy – the US.

Brazil and China are two nations struggling to industrialise. As a result of a change of government in 2002 a complete transformation took place in Brazil where traditional higher valued products have been replaced by agricultural and mineral imports from China, China has now replaced the US as Brazil’s biggest trade partner. Brazil has now shifted to exports of natural resources from manufactured goods that have long dominated its economy. Such a shift has resulted in cheap Chinese manufactured products flooding the Brazilian economy at the expense of local industry this is now threatening Brazil’s industrial development.

Fundamentally the relationship of each of the BRICS nations with the US - the world’s superpower is strong enough to act as a wedge between any of the members with the others. Each nation also has its own bilateral relations with the US which further weakens the bloc. What this bloc however does allow for, is for each nation to deal with the others outside the international order, giving an appearance of a new coalition of nations standing apart form the US and the West.

This bloc of developing nations is offering little in the way of anything new to the current order, they are merely calling to be taken more seriously on international issues and have a say regarding international institutes established by the colonial powers such as the UN and the Bretton Woods institutes (IMF and World Bank). However the bloc is not willing to gets its hands dirty on most issues. On the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, authorizing the use of military force to protect civilians (regime change) in Libya, Brazil and India as non-permanent members and permanent members China and Russia did nothing to stop the invasion. They could have vetoed the resolution but choose to simply abstain from voting. Despite this they remain united in their condemnation of the US, French and British invasion.

Each nation of the BRICS has commercial interests with some nations having global and regional ambitions. This bloc is a real case of the parts being much stronger then the whole. Without any unifying ideology, such nations will not undermine the global system but remain as players amongst many others. Hence the BRICS is not the emergence of a new system for the world or the rise of another power, in fact such a crippled movement further strengthens the US, remaining as mere talking shops. If there is any lesson to be learnt, it would be that this type of union and every union like it will end in failure.

A union of states into a larger union is a weak method of amalgamation. It lacks the characteristics found in full unification where a people become one nation. A union as a method of binding peoples and nations is always prone to political differences as it continues to recognise the sovereignty of constituent nations, this leaves it open to interference from the outside. The European Union has today expanded well beyond its original founder states. Consensus on how far enlargement should go and how deep integration should be continues to plague the union. Member states are reluctant to relinquish their sovereignty to bureaucrats in Brussels or leave key decision making to the two nations that dominate the EU – Germany and France. Whilst from an economic perspective the EU acts as one block, political sovereignty means the union will always remain disjointed – like any of union established in the same manner.

 

[below_freezing]

What a travesty, people are super excited about the term "BRIC" which is a word coined by a Goldman Sachs analyst? There is nothing really common about BRIC except, that they are tier II countries, that means lot of the other tier II countries like Mexico, Turkey etc. are left out.

Any BRIC can make all the noise on the planet, it just another Non-Alignment Movement, good to have someone with different point of view, but who is entirely ineffective.

In the World financial system only G8 matters.. ie G7 + China. Others will follow, with varying stripes of Independence.

G-8 was G-7+Russia. Now it is irrelevant compared to the G-20 because without China G-8 is a joke.

 

[casual]

In the World financial system only G8 matters.. ie G7 + China. Others will follow, with varying stripes of Independence.

more like G2. ie USA and China

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

G-8 was G-7+Russia. Now it is irrelevant compared to the G-20 because without China G-8 is a joke.

G-8 better to become a joke.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

more like G2. ie USA and China

China only interests about G1, screw G2.

 

[hembo]

BRICS talks are milestone for emerging economies

BEIJING -- The recently concluded BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Sanya, Hainan province, China, has once again highlighted the importance of emerging economies in the transformation of the international political and economic order.
The meeting, which brought together the five fastest growing economies, resulted in a statement elaborating their vision for common development and shared prosperity and put forward many new initiatives for global economic governance. With the participation of South Africa, the largest economy in Africa, the summit also added new geopolitical significance.

International opinion has varied in response to BRICS. Some acclaim it as the advent of a multi-polarity era and say this forward-looking group will have far-reaching consequences, not just for the five countries themselves, but also for the peaceful and orderly transition to a more just and democratic world.

Others are concerned about the challenges it may pose to the West-dominated world and argue that as a non-Western grouping, BRICS may push for its own agenda at the expense of the West.

For still others, BRICS is merely an ad hoc group, the countries are not really united, and it is only China that makes it possible. They argue that BRICS mainly serves China's interests as it seeks to change the West-dominated global system through multilateral diplomacy.

All these views miss the essential truth: BRICS is a manifestation of developing countries rising as a group. As a major driving force for global economic recovery in the post-crisis era, it is only natural for the BRICS states to seek a bigger say and more representation for themselves and for other developing countries on issues that have a bearing on world peace and development. Coordination and cooperation among the BRICS countries offers the promise of building a favorable external environment that helps and complements their own development and for developing countries as a whole.

BRICS is becoming a defining force shaping the new international political and economic order, not only because of the member countries' impressive growth rates in the past, but also because of their great potential in the decades to come. They have all formulated long-term development strategies that require a more just and fair international political and economic governance system. But they do not intend to establish a new system to replace the current one, one in which they all have a stake. What they are looking for is to coordinate efforts to make the emerging international system more balanced, equitable and sustainable.
The BRICS nations share a vision for inclusive growth and prosperity in the world, and serve as a bridge for South-North dialogue. Advocating a non-confrontational approach for dialogue and cooperation, BRICS's vision, if put into practice, will make it increasingly influential in many global issues, such as climate change, environmental protection, food security and energy security.

BRICS also constitutes a new model of global economic cooperation. It has a broad vision for international economic cooperation and interaction. It undertakes to work with the U.N., G-20 and other multilateral cooperative mechanisms by playing a constructive role in addressing the common challenges facing the world. The BRICS countries pledge to strengthen their coordination for common development and shared prosperity and to formulate a result-oriented action plan by expanding and deepening practical cooperation among themselves.

As a host, China has played an important role in making this possible. Chinese President Hu Jintao said at the summit and also at the ensuing Boao Forum, China will make great efforts to participate in global economic governance and push for the reform of the global economic and financial systems. China also undertakes to work with the other BRICS states and developing countries and the world at large to share development opportunities.

The Sanya BRICS summit was a milestone, which showed that for the first time in modern history, developing countries, and those five emerging economies in particular, are thinking big and doing big

 

[hembo]

Here comes the counter-arguments:

BRICs currency mechanism is impractical - analysts
April 20 2011 at 06:04am
By Ethel Hazelhurst

At least one proposal to emerge from the meeting of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa at last week’s Brics summit is unlikely to bear fruit. In a joint statement after the meeting in China, the nations announced a study “in joint currency co-operation”.

The idea is to set up an exchange rate mechanism (ERM) between the five countries, effectively bypassing the world’s reserve currency, the US dollar.

Economists are puzzled by the proposal. Asked how the mechanism would work, Michael Power, a strategist at Investec Asset Management, said: “It beats me.” In answer to the same question, Brait economist Colen Garrow said: “Not at all. I don’t think it will.”

Power, who supports moves to weaken the rand, said he understood the bloc’s frustrations. Brics members have suffered from low interest rate policies in advanced economies, which led investors to redirect funds to emerging markets. This has boosted Brics currencies, making exports less competitive.

The bloc sees a five-member ERM as a device to achieve more stability. But Power said: “Cutting out the dollar middleman may reduce costs but is unlikely to reduce volatility.” And he described any attempt to agree on cross-rates and essentially create a five-way fixed rate sub-group as “a non-starter too as three out of the five (South Africa, Brazil and India) run current account deficits”.

A deficit forces countries to rely on foreign investment to finance their growth.

Garrow said the five Brics countries had very different exchange rate policies.

“The rand has been floating since the 1970s while China has a currency board.”

A currency board fixes rates, in contrast to allowing currencies to find their own level.

And Garrow pointed out the currencies of India, Brazil and Russia were not as liquid as the rand. Currencies are illiquid when they face a range of controls and when financial markets are relatively undeveloped.

Garrow said a Brics ERM would require policy co-ordination before it could work.

Relief may be in sight on the currency front. Power said the US Federal Reserve would start withdrawing excess liquidity mid-year, which would likely strengthen the dollar.

Reuters reported on Monday: “The Fed is on course to complete the purchase of $600 billion (R4 trillion) in US government debt by the end of June, which would take its total purchases of mortgage-related and government debt since December 2008 to nearly $2.3 trillion.” - Business Report