India will host the 4th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on March 29. The theme of the summit is ‘BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity.’ A factfile on BRICS:
* BRICS comprises five major emerging economies of the world – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
* BRICS traces its origin to the BRIC acronym coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’ Neill in a paper entitled ‘The World Needs Better Economic BRICs,’ based an economic modeling exercise to forecast global economic trends over the next half century. O’ Neill predicted that Brazil, Russia, India and China will become major economic powers over the next few decades. He had little inkling it will evolve into an influential multilateral grouping.
* From BRIC to BRICS: BRIC became BRICS after South Africa, Africa’s economic powerhouse, was invited to attend the third BRICS Summit in Sanya on April 14, 2011.
* BRICS accounts for 26 per cent of the world’s landmass and 42 per cent of the global population, including India and China, two of the world’s most populous countries.
* BRICS accounts for 40 percent of global GDP ($18.486 trillion) and its proportion is rapidly increasing. Goldman Sachs predicts that ‘BRIC can become collectively bigger than the G-7 (the top industrial powers) by 2035’. BRICS countries have accounted for over 50 per cent global economic growth in the last decade.
* Intra-BRICS trade is growing at an average of 28 percent annually and currently stands at about $230 billion.
* The first BRICS summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia (2009), followed by Brasilia (2010), Sanya, China (2011). New Delhi hosts the 4th BRICS summit March 29, 2012.
* BRICS has no fixed agenda or secretariat, but can identify certain contemporary themes like reform of United Nations; greater representation in Bretton Woods institutions; managing global financial crisis and boosting intra-BRICS trade and cooperation.
