This year’s BRICS summit in Brazil is set to be a more muted gathering of its developing economies’ representatives in the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s threats and the absence of China’s President, Xi Jinping, and Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, who have both decided to give the summit a miss.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been welcoming his international guests, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Rio de Janeiro for the two-day summit that is being held on July 6 and 7.
Brazil, which also chairs the bloc, has picked six significant, but less controversial issues for the summit that include global cooperation in healthcare; trade, investment and finance; climate change; governance for artificial intelligence; peace-making and security; and institutional development.
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In the absence of China’s Xi Jinping – who has skipped the summit for the first time since he came to power in 2012, and has instead sent Prime Minister Li Qiang – and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his role in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – the bloc’s global clout is being questioned.
While Brazil will defend multilateralism and advocate for more reform in the Western-led global institutions, the country is taking a cautious stance when it comes to decrying Trump’s trade tariff threats to avoid the US President’s ire, who has threatened the imposition of 100 per cent tariffs against the bloc if they take any moves to undermine the dollar.
“Brazil wants to keep the summit as technical as possible,” said Oliver Stuenkel, a professor at the think tank and university, Getulio Vargas Foundation.
BRICS – an acronym derived from the initial letters of its founding member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – has grown considerably in size since its first summit in 2009. Other countries to add to the list of what has come to be called BRICS+ include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which joined in 2024.
Last year, a new category of 10 strategic partner countries was created, including Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam.
Also absent from the summit this year will be Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Saudi Arabia has been invited and is participating in member discussions, but it has yet to send its confirmation letter.
The quiet atmosphere in Rio de Janeiro differs markedly from the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan last year, where the Kremlin sought to develop alternatives to U.S.-dominated payment systems to evade Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The BRICS countries, which claim to represent almost half of the world’s population, a quarter of the global economic output, and 36 per cent of global land area, seem to be struggling to find a unified voice even as they present themselves as a forum that’s a counterweight to the G7 (Group of Seven) Western powers.
Some members of the BRICS bloc have been calling for a firmer stance on Israel’s attack on Iran and Gaza.
What can be expected, say observers including Brazilian officials, is a final declaration regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and the tensions in the Middle East, and three joint statements.
Despite failing to play a role in showing an alternative strong front to an unstable world, the summit will be important for emerging countries to respond to Trump’s tariff wars by seeking to diversify economic partnerships.
For Brazilian President Lula, the summit will be a welcome break from increasing internal differences marked by a drop in popularity and conflict with Congress.
Also on the table would be an opportunity to advance November’s COP30 climate talks in Belem and discuss commitments by representing countries on protecting the environment.
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