Key Takeaways From 'BRICS Role in the Search of a New World Order' Expert Forum

Prominent economists, political scientists, scholars and media figures gathered on the sidelines of the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to discuss the role of BRICS in the global economy and international relations.

The world is facing major shifts and BRICS must become a leader of the new world, said Dmitry Kiselev, director general of Sputnik's parent media group Rossiya Segodnya, who opened the discussion. He added that experts and scholars who gathered for the dialogue should try to come up with ideas that will act as a booster for the BRICS leadership.

“We face a new structure, a new system of humankind that is forming in front of our eyes… And this session’s aim is to discuss some ideas for the upcoming [BRICS] summit in Kazan to make it more productive so that it becomes a booster that will help us to form a new world that will be led by BRICS states," Kiselev said.

For his part, Jose Pio Borges, president of the Board of Trustees of the Brazilian Center for International Relations, emphasized that BRICS countries have achieved significant progress in terms of GDP, economic growth, and population numbers.

He underscored that the population of BRICS countries before the expansion amounted to 3.2 billion while G7 countries are populated by only 800 million citizens. What is more important, the per capita growth of BRICS economies is 4.5% which dwarfs the G7 per capita growth by three.

Borges highlighted that the G7 countries, which were once powerful industrialized Western nations, have seen their influence decline over time.

“In 2020, the BRICS countries [before the expansion] overtook the G7 in terms of GDP considering the Purchasing Power Parity,” Borges said.

Despite excellent economic performances, BRICS nations have much to do financial-wise, stressed First Deputy Chairman of Russia's State Duma Alexander Zhukov. He underscored the importance of independent payment systems, adding that de-dollarization and a switch to national currencies is a “major trend”, noting that over 80% of Russia's transactions with BRICS countries are conducted in national currencies.

“It is necessary, a settlement system that would be independent of foreign currency and foreign banking system. This is one of the key directions of the development of our economic links," Zhukov said.

While facing challenges, BRICS nations have a serious competitive advantage, and this advantage is a culture of entrepreneurship, believes Binod Singh Ajatshatru, director of the BRICS Institute in New Delhi.

“In BRICS we promote the culture of entrepreneurship. And we have some forums for this in BRICS. I think we can come up with new business models,” he said.

Singh Ajatshatru also stressed the positive role of the BRICS New Development Bank.

Traditional Values and Independent Media

The issue of culture and soft power was also touched upon during the discussion. BRICS is a unity of the different nations with different cultures that gathered together to protect traditional values from Western influence, said Russian political philosopher Alexander Dugin.

“BRICS is the unity of the differences. There is a lot of contradiction between the Islamic world and India, a lot of differences between the Chinese model and the Islamic model, between India and China, between Africa and Islamic world. And Russia is an Orthodox Eurasian civilization, but we are unified by one thing – that we all focus our civilizations on the traditional values and the West promotes non-traditional values and believes that they are the only ones who are right,” Dugin stressed.

Cultural diversity is a stimulus to get more information about each other and the role of independent international news agencies like Sputnik that reflect the national stance on global issues and act as a window to their country is paramount, believes Kiselev.

“Concerning how we learn about each other through third parties. Let’s establish a direct line of communication for information about ourselves to reach each other’s countries. Here, we are a Sputnik – a global brand that operates in over 30 languages –, invite you to engage with us, read our content and learn more about Russia and the Russian perspective on the current global landscape,” Kiselev encouraged.

Key Takeaways From 'BRICS' Role in the Search of a New World Order' SPIEF Forum

Traditional Values and Independent Media