Various BRICS Summits

The BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] idea was first conceived by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs. In 2011, South Africa joined this informal group and BRIC became BRICS.  So far, eight BRICS summits have taken place. First held in 2009 in Yekaterinburg in Russia and latest (8th) was held in Goa, India in October 2016.

The five BRICS countries represent 40% of World’s population and account for around USD 16.6 trillion nominal GDP, which is one fifth of gross world product.

BRICS summits

By October 2016, eight BRICS summits have held. These are as follows:

1. Yekaterinburg Summit (2009): This summit was held in the backdrop of Global Financial Crisis and it stressed on improving the global financial scenario and reforms in financial institutions. In this summit, the BRIC countries for the first time stressed on a new global reserve currency.
2. Brasilia Summit (2010): In this summit, South Africa formally joined BRIC, this giving its current name BRICS. Under this summit, issues such as nuclear programme of Iran, Global Financial Crisis etc. were discussed. In this summit, the development banks of BRIC countries {EXIM Bank from India} signed a MoU for cooperation.
3. Sanya Summit (2011): In this summit, a Sanya Declaration was released which apart from other things, pitched for UNSC reforms. Further, an important decision stop mutual trade payments in USD and henceforth give credits to each other in their national currencies was taken.
4. New Delhi Summit (2012): In this summit, a Delhi Declaration was released which outlined these countries’ role in global issues. The main agenda of this summit was to create a New Development Bank that would finance investments in developing countries. This idea was mooted by India. The Delhi Declaration launched at the end of this summit called it a “BRICS-led South-South development bank.”
5. Durban Summit (2013): In this summit, the negotiations for BRICS Development Bank were carried forward. An eThekwini Declaration as well as eThekwini Action Plan were issued. The declaration announced the creation of BRICS Development Bank (BSB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) amongst BRICS countries, with an initial size of US$ 100 billion. Though, timeline of neither was fixed, yet it was seen as a success of BRICS nations, which were so far belittled by the western commentators as a motley crew.
6. Fortaleza Summit (2014): This was one of the most important summits of BRICS so far which resulted in creation of two financial institutions viz. New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) via the Fortaleza Declaration.
7. Ufa Summit (2015): This summit marked the NDB and CRA entering into force. The New Development Bank was formally inaugurated.
8. Goa Summit (2016): In this summit, an agreement on setting up an Agriculture Research Platform was announced. Further, the countries have started discussion to set up a Railway Research Network. All BRICS members have committed to support the New Development Bank. BRICS were also in the process to launch a credit rating agency but that has been postponed as of now.

Thus, the tangible outcomes of various BRICS Summits are the two financial institutions viz. New Development Bank and Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA). The other organizations include BRICS Think Tanks Council, which was mooted by South Africa and was launched in 2013; and BRICS Economic Research Group to bring together economic think tanks and chief editors of business and economic magazines/publications from BRICS, to evolve BRICS thinking on economic linkages and developmental challenges within and outside BRICS.