Brics and the new development bank – influence and contributions
Brics e o novo banco de desenvolvimento – influência e contribuições
SILVA, Ítalo Augusto de S.1
ABSTRACT Firstly, this article exposes, with a historical perspective, the beginning of the acronym BRICS, the main reasons for the creation of the group as well as the idea raised to institutionalize a bank. Going deeper, the concerns from the BRICS about its influence in multilateral organizations as well as of its Bank making a change in the financial and economic scope of the international relations are analyzed. Furthermore, it is also exposed the challenges and importance from the BRICS to establish a so-called “South-South cooperation”. Therefore, as a conclusion, it is elaborated some arguments to show the importance of the group in the 21st century international relations, as well as some major concerns that should upset its clout. Keywords: FERISP; International Relations; brics; bank; cooperation
RESUMO Primeiramente, o artigo expõe, com uma perspectiva histórica, o começo do acrônimo BRICS, as principais razões para a criação do grupo assim como a ideia que ganhou força para institucionalizar um banco. Indo mais profundamente, as preocupações do BRICS sobre sua influência nas organizações multilaterais assim como seu banco fazendo uma mudança no escopo financeiro e econômico das relações internacionais são analisadas. Além disso, também são expostos os desafios e a importância do BRICS para estabelecer a chamada “cooperação Sul-Sul”. Portanto, como uma conclusão, são elaborados alguns argumentos para mostrar a importância do grupo para as relações internacionais do século XXI, assim como alguns problemas importantes que podem atrapalhar a influência do grupo. Palavras-chave: FERISP; Relações Internacionais; brics; banco; cooperação
INTRODUCTION
Some changes in the international scenario has been showing an instability in the Western-powers. Therefore, what is also be seen is the clout that raised from the emerging countries such as members from the BRICS. The projections of the creator of this acronym in 2001 was really positive for all the member-states and surely, as time went by, the growing process of these countries in recent years is the main reason why there are discussions about a new future for the international relations.
1 Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes/Relações Internacionais – [email protected] 1
Therefore, an idea of gathering together all the heads of state of the group raised, and there is a peculiar subject that happened almost in the same time, such as the American crisis of 2008, which could be made a parallel of the rising influence of the BRICS due to the difficulties the well-established powers were facing at that time. Another relevant fact that happened right after that was the establishment of China as the 2nd most powerful economy of the world.2
The aim of this article is to make a discussion about the most important facts to create the BRICS and its bank. After that, what is aimed is the influence the group has been getting in the main multilateral institutions around the globe, requesting changes in economic organizations such as WTO and IMF, as well as its influence in the most important aspects of the international economy, showing dates about exports, GDP share and participation in the international trade from each of the member-states.
In order to make a deeper analyze about the group, what is focused later on is the main functions of the New Development Bank (NDB) or the BRICS Bank, putting into research the objectives of the bank to supply emerging countries and complement the financial and economic system instead of only competing with Bretton Woods institutions. It is also showed the main differences from the NDB in comparison with them.
Furthermore, there is an important part where it is aimed the impact of the BRICS in the South-South cooperation, showing the statistics about it and then going to some arguments from researchers which analyze the advantages and disadvantages from this cooperation, especially due to some doubts about the opening up of markets among emerging countries.
As a conclusion it is showed the main purposes that the BRICS should take as an objective and moreover, put the influence of the 2008 crisis to make the group ascend. Notwithstanding, difficulties about the legitimation of the group as well as the real importance of it in developed powers vision is also put into discussion.
1. INCEPTION: BRICS AND THE IDEA OF A BANK
Firstly, before discussing the main points of BRICS and its new bank, it is important to go through the past and analyze the origin of this group and why there was an idea of creating
2 China overtakes Japan as world’s second-largest economy. The Guardian, Global economy. Tokyo, February 14th, 2011. Available in:
The acronym was coined for the first time in 2001, when an economist from the Goldman Sachs Bank called Jim O’Neill published a report in which he claimed that four emerging countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were going through an economic high- level of growth for a long period. These countries were called BRIC (O’NEILL, 2001).
Notwithstanding, it is important to mention that it was not the first time that someone talked about these countries’ economic growth. There was a precedent designation about them according to Flávio Damico3:
…the reports’ most famous precedent may be the designation of “monster countries”, a term coined by the American historian and diplomat, George Kennan, in 1994,4 referring to countries, such as United States, and other holders of vast territories and populations: China, India, Russia and Brazil. (DAMICO, 2017, p.53) This information was capable of showing that BRICs acronym actually has had an impact, at least in the academic area, for a longer time than it is commonly known. Nonetheless, as this is not the aim of this article, the explanation might be able of advancing to a new stage.
Therefore, after the widespread knowledge of the acronym, leaders from all of the BRICs countries (without South Africa’s participation yet) decided to meet in 2006 and discuss about convergent issues that could benefit all parts among them. As Augusto Rinaldi5 (2018) stated “… Some features that can be pointed out: impressive economic growth; regional leadership; great population and territorial size; unexplored internal market, etc.”
Moreover, arose an idea of meeting again in 2009. In addition, at that time, it became a formal summit that was held in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. And then, ever since, all the heads of state from all the member-states have been gathering together to meet and discuss many issues in which they analyze, trying to reach a common sensus. To sum up, since 2009, BRIC has left its initial idea of being only an acronym which all the countries involved have similar economic growth in the same period as well as being coined as “emergent countries”. From BRIC’s summit in Ekaterinburg till now, BRICS has become a group with diplomatic
3 Diplomat, former Director of the Department of Inter-Regional Mechanisms in the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 4 The expression is introduced in Kenan’s autobiography, Around the cragged Hill: a personal and political philosophy, published by W.W. Nortn in 1994. 5 RINALDI, Augusto L. THE NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK: CHALLENGES AND INTERESTS. São Paulo, 2018 3 proposals, not only about economy issues, but also with issues such as education, sustainability, climate change, cooperation on security and technology transfer (BRICS, 2016).
Furthermore, as it has not been mentioned yet and it has a great importance for the group, South Africa joined BRIC in 2011. It was possible due to the fact that it was formally invited to become a member in the year before and, therefore, the group was renamed BRICS, with the “S” standing for South Africa (SMITH, 2011). In the same year, the third BRICS summit was held in the Chinese city of Sanya, and an exponent feature of this meeting was Jacob Zuma (President of South Africa back then) participation, demonstrating the expanding process of the group.
In 2012, the next year, another considerable initiative was discussed in the 4th BRICS summit in New Delhi. The idea of a bank was proposed in this summit, which is called: BRICS New Development Bank.
… The five heads of state asked their Finance ministers to analyze the creation of a new development bank focusing on infrastructure and sustainable development in the BRICS and in other developing countries. (ABDENUR & FOLLY, 2015, p.84)6 The idea was well-accepted and in the following summit, in 2013, in the South African city called Durban, the leaders decided to create the institution for the group. However, it was only consolidated in the Fortaleza summit, the 6th BRICS summit, in 2014 when it was ready to announce formally the NDB.
… According to the official statement, the institution is intended to “mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable developments projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development by providing loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments, cooperating with international and financial organizations, and also providing technical assistance for projects it will support (BRICS, 2014).7 The agreement of the New Development Bank had fifty articles spelling out the structure of governance and its basic operations, for example: Shangai, China as the headquarter of the bank and a nomination of the Indian Kundapur Kamath as the first-president, elected for a two- year mandate which is subjected to a rotational basis (RINALDI, 2018). Nevertheless, what most shows the acknowledgment of BRICS is not only the significant step toward an institutionalization of the group made by its tentative to consolidate BRICS as an important
6 ABDENUR, Adriana E & FOLLY, Maiara. The New Development Bank and the Institutionalization of the BRICS. 2015 7 BRICS. Agreement on the New Development Bank. Fortaleza, 2014. 4 actor in the international relations, but also the size of its representation in the economical sphere, which is one of the reasons why it has been gaining space in the international scenario.
Another aspect that was discussed about the processes the NDB was going to take was related to the amount of loan the bank would hold. The amount of capital was established to US$50 billion from all the member-states8, with each one lending US$10 billion. Moreover, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) was also created in 2013 and consensus was achieved in order to decide its size in the initial arrangement. The leaders agreed to make CRA with an initial size of US$100 billion and the commitments from all the countries were established as US$41 billion for China, US$18 billion for Brazil, India, Russia and US$5 billion for South Africa9.
At that time, one big concern was related to the operations from NDB and how it would be different from the other major development finance organizations which was feasible in the Bretton Woods context. An analyst from BRICS called Caroline Bracht stated that:
The bank could also be considered a failure if it simply replicates the characteristics of the major development finance institutions, with rigid lending conditions and donor directed decision-making instead of being based on the needs of recipient governments. If the bank merely tries to trump the existing institutional architecture, it will prove to be redundant and fail to provide progressive services, to move the current development paradigm forward. (BRACHT, 2013)10 Therefore, based on this statement, the purpose of the next step of this article is to show what are the main acts BRICS has taken in multilateral organizations of economic scope as well as exploring the functions of the NDB, gathering knowledge to get into a conclusion about the processes that the group had taken and moreover, discussing about some issues that are important to understand the importance of the group to the south-south cooperation and complementing the Bretton Woods institutions.
2. BRICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMIC ESTABLISHMENT
8 PURUGGANAN, Joseph; JAFRI, Afsar; SOLON, Pablo. BRICS A Global Trade Power in a Multi-Polar World. SHIFTING POWER: Critical perspectives on emerging economies. The Working Paper, 2014 9 Media note on the informal meeting of BRICS Leaders ahead of the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. September 2013. Available in:
Since its acronym was coined 17 years ago, what is surely visible is the economic growth of all the member-states from the BRICS. It happens in many aspects such as the rise in the economic global GDP share, the increased number of exportations to the western powers as well as its clout in the regional area. As Folly and Abdenur described
In 2015, the BRICS represented around 42% of the global population, with a GDP of US$ 16 trillion (21% of the world’s total) and international reserves estimated around US$5 trillion, more than 80% of which came from China (FOLLY & ABDENUR, 2017, p.80). It is also important to mention that three out of five countries from BRICS are in the top-ten biggest economies of the world11 - China, India and Brazil respectively – therefore, it is important to consider the group as a great changer actor in the developmental economic process of the 21st century.
In addition to this affirmation, China has also been showing the most economic growth among the members of the group as well as it has been the most aggressive in concern of establishing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with other developing countries out of BRICS (PURUGGANAN; JAFRI & SOLON, 2014). Moreover, with a view of the group as a whole, the exports are still the main source of BRICS economies especially because member’s participation in this area has been getting bigger in the international trade. From a 3.9% share in 1990, BRICS exports in 2010 amounted 16.9% of global exports (PURUGGANAN; JAFRI & SOLON, 2014).
As a matter of fact, it is essential to mention that BRICS has been asking for change in international organizations and forums in the economic and financial framework, for example: IMF, World Bank, G20 and WTO, hence its increasingly clout among other economic powers around the globe.
Firstly, these adjustments in the economic international order has been arising not only due to the questions raised by the efficacy from the establishment done by the traditional institutions, but also to expand BRICS leverage. One point that can be noted is that China has a significant role in the international trade as well as with intra-BRICS trade. In Damico’s opinion12 (2017):
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a significant portion of the growth in the trade volume can be attributed to the prominence of China in international trade. In fact, China is the second largest trading partner of all the other BRICS, and is surpassed only by the European Union taken as a bloc (DAMICO, 2017, p.72). It has been bringing some divergent economic politics as China has grown. Sandra Rios (2012) affirms that:
…Brazil and India have been affected due to the Yuan valorization, however, they have tried to avoid pressing China openly, letting the USA this task. On the other hand, China criticizes the expansionist monetary policy from the USA, with supply of Brazil. Notwithstanding, India defends the American policy, stating that it is beneficial to the retrieval of global economic growth (RIOS, 2012, p.240). Despite these struggles faced by BRICS members, there are some facts that has showed some convergent issues. In relation to the group as a whole, since the first summit held in Ekaterinburg there were requests from all the countries to get a better representation in IMF. There were some declarations from the members to engage BRICS in the discussions of the institution and they were hold in all the summits since 2009. One of the reasons to this initiative from the group was the 2008 crisis which impacted all the world. Therefore, in one of the most incisive declarations, from the 3rd Summit, was declared that:
…Acknowledging that the international financial crisis evidenced the deficiencies and inadequacies of the international monetary and financial system existed, we supply the reform and improvement of the international monetary system, in a way of international reserves broad and capable of providing stability and security (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014, p.28) What can also be seen is that these requests of increasing its participations in the IMF decisions is directly related to the widening of quotas numbers and then, amplifying the financial subsides given to each of BRICS members (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014). In addition, in an individual perspective, what actually happens is that the member-states of BRICS has less influence in the percentage of participation in the IMF, the quotas are: 1.79% for Brazil; 2.5% for Russia; 2.44% for India; 4% for China and 0.78% for South Africa.13 Notwithstanding, powerful countries such as the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan has a way different percentage of IMF quotas, showing the disparities among emerging and developed countries in the economic institution.
Another issue concerned from the group is the efficacy of the G20 group, which was created after the Asian crisis in 1997 to aggregate advanced countries and emerging countries of systemic importance. However, what was worrying about the group has relation to the lack
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In a historical perspective, what should be observed is
that the G20 was created in a situation of international crisis. Its elevation of status, as a discussion forum, was related, since the beginning, with the perception that the debates was only under G8 decisions, which let behind actors of economic importance (BAUMANN, 2012, p.301). Therefore, based on Baumann (2012) perspective, as the group G20 involves all the countries from BRICS, and especially because the economic growth from all of them, these countries has opportunities to come in the circle of great powers, even though not being considered as developed countries. Generally speaking, international relations analysts think that, as BRICS has been growing, the political influence will be increased and the international summits decisions should be changed to put them and other emerging countries in a better position, otherwise these international organizations might lose its legitimacy (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014).
Another crucial international organization which has been important to ensure a free trade among its members is the World Trade Organization (WTO). All the members from BRICS are within WTO, Russia was the last member which became the 156th member of the institution in 2011 (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014). BRICS actions are really relevant in respect of controversies resolutions among members. According to Sandra Rios (2012)
…in the multilateral trade system the interests of Brazil, China and India are predominantly divergent. While Brazil adopt aggressive postures on behalf of international agricultural trade liberalization, China and India act in a defensive mode, seeking protection and a necessary supply for its fragile agricultural sector (RIOS, 2012, p.241) Therefore, with a same view, there is an addition from Lima that affirms:
In the trade negotiations at WTO, the group BRIC was not so relevant in the definition of the negotiator position of its members. In this field, the main protagonist was the G20 (Trading), which involves Brazil, India, China and South Africa among developing countries. In this way, within G20 (Trading) the articulation of BRIC was less relevant for the decision-making process, especially due to the divergencies in important themes of the agenda, which was explicit in the miniministerial meeting of July 2008 (LIMA, 2010, p.170).
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Nonetheless, although there are diverging points in trading questions under WTO, it is possible to have convergent ones specifically, for example, among Brazil, South Africa, China and India in the case of formation of a coalition of developing countries which is able of discussing about agriculture negotiations such as the ones that were discussed in the Doha Round. This coalition is the G20 Trading (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014).
Likewise, an influential action that BRICS is capable of developing, under WTO negotiations, is related to agricultural products, manufacturers and services. In Bijos and Guilhon (2014) opinion
…the mechanism of G20 Trading, if it is brought once again in discussions, could be useful for the interests of these countries in the trading agenda, especially in consensus themes. However, sensitive questions must be negotiated in parts for the reason to get a common point (BIJOS & GUILHON, 2014, p.35). Based on these statements and the clout that has been arisen from the BRICS as a group what should be perceived is the inevitable participation of the developing countries in the international trade, therefore, it needs to be restored and recognize that they have a massive influence in this area.
3. THE NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK AND ITS FUNCTIONS
The idea to create a bank to the BRICS group was surely related to the fact that it wants to complement what has done the Bretton Woods financial institutions, but at the same time, it has a role to compete against them considering that new countries might entry the NDB due to the fact that the founding-states declared that NDB is open to participation and contribution from all the countries of the United Nations, borrowing and non-borrowing indistinguishable (BRICS, 2014).
Although the founding-states should maintain its privileges with an eventual new- members entrance, the bank has been attracting some attention and grabbing new areas of interest. It is an astonishing point raised by the creation of the bank, mainly because it would bring new possible-future shareholders, widespreading the acceptance of the NDB.
Another relevant point about NDB relates to its equal voting rights, especially because Bretton Woods institutions has veto powers in which it is defined by economic and/or demographic size of the countries. Contrary to that, BRICS bank has no veto powers. It can be 9 seen in a good perspective, that provides a thinking way which shows that this equality is welcomed by the developing countries and then, it would expand the clout of the bank (RINALDI, 2018).
However, there are some important issues that should be mentioned and discussed, Rinaldi (2018) provides some points that is interesting to realize:
…closely related to that question are the terms regarding to the subscription and share of stock, agreeing there would be penalties for non-increasing contribution from members. This type of measure serves as an incentive for members to participate in equivalent conditions, and also to reinforce their commitment with the institution. (RINALDI, 2018, p.106) Notwithstanding, it is impossible not to consider the international economic scenario that has been facing some changes, especially after the 2008 financial crisis, in which emerging countries such as BRICS gained more regional clout. Therefore, there are some aspects that shows the importance of the NDB in the international relations. It becomes clearer when it is recognized the demand for credit and financing which has increased lately. In this situation, the bank could be the right organization to complement this area in case of the necessary to do so.
As it had already been provided here, the influence of the BRICS in the international scenario has grown so much in few years and also it has become an increasing amount of participation in the main sources of productivity. According to Jim O’Neill (2016), the size of the members’ economies, is terrifically consistent with his projection made long time ago. Therefore, with this vacuum of economic and financial assistance, multilateral development banks such as the NDB may have an important role in which they use its clout to keep a role assistance to develop economies and fulfill the lack of finance, that is the main reason why NDB’s initiatives get weight in this moment (RINALDI, 2018).
Based on Griffith Jones estimations14
a total initial capital endowment of US$100 billion, in which 20% might have been paid in, the level of annual lending could reach, after 20 years, a stock of loans of up to US$350 billion, equivalent to about US$34 billion annually. The latter amount could be used for investment projects worth at least US$68 billion annually, given that there would be co-financing by private and public leaders and investors. (GRIFFITH JONES, 2014, p.9) There is something as a hope for the future to these multilateral institutions, and the NDB has an important role in this sense. However, it needs to be seen with caution, especially because the BRICS countries are growing in the economic scope in different rates as well as an
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Furthermore, what actually should be focused is the relation of the NDB with the international scope and its contribution to enhance a new source of economic development, especially due to the fact that it is going to take a role of complementation rather than upset multilateral financial institution in the market. In addition, the financing resources and reliability of the institution has a significant role to make it work properly as pointed out Rinaldi (2018).
Therefore, with a view of supplying countries offering credit to invest in infrastructure and development areas, the BRICS bank will be capable of getting a major role in the developing world due to its focus on that. As a matter of fact, relating to this purpose, the desire to establish financial-operations with local currencies such as yuan and real should be put in discussion (RINALDI, 2018), considering the impact it can bring to Bretton Woods institution as well as to dollar which might suffer desvalorization.
As a conclusion, what should be seen with a deeper understanding is the major role that the NDB can take whether these facts would become clearer and reality to the bank in the future, without forgetting the purpose of the BRICS as a group. Hence, the ascension of all the members, especially in the 2000’s, brought into discussion the clout they would have in some years. The bank created an opportunity for BRICS to take legitimacy and put them alongside the Western-powers, as well as showing how important the emerging countries may be, transforming the international relations into a multipolar world.
4. THE SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION
The economic ascension of the BRICS has brought into discussion some points such as how and to what extent it would enhance South-South cooperation in economic scope, including areas of finance, investment, technology and knowledge transfer.15 In the last two decades, the
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South-South cooperation has grown and according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the estimative was that South-South trade has expanded fastly as a share of world trade from 10% in 2001 to 17% in 2009.16
It is also important to mention that members from the BRICS have a great amount of participation in this process, considering that China and India together account for almost half of total South-South trade. As Purugganan, Jafri and Solon put (2014)
The trade clout that both have is totally linked to global production networks where intermediate goods are traded between countries and value is added along the way, as part of a fragmented global process of globalization. (PURUGGANAN, JAFRI & SOLON, 2014, p.17). As the trade organization WTO emphasized
In 2009, trade in intermediate goods was the most dynamic sector of international trade, representing more than 50% of non-fuel world merchandise trade and 64% of the total imports of the Asian region.17 (WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, 2011, p.81). Therefore, not only the increasing of BRICS has been pushing the development of South, but also it has been done by many multilateral institutions such as the WTO and ADB. The importance of growth in South-South Economic Cooperation (SSEC) is used to gather justifications for further liberalization and opening up of economies in the South (PURUGGANAN; JAFRI & SOLON, 2014).
In addition to this perspective, there is an analyst who has a different point of view about the growth of South-South trade clout among developing countries. The analyst Aileen Kwa argues that “South-South trade is no magic panacea if conducted on exactly the same terms as North-South trade”.18 In addition, according to WTO, almost half of China’s exports are from Export Processing Zones (EPZs), meanwhile, one-third of its imports were done in such zones.19 According to Purugganan, Jafri and Solon opinions’ (2014)
…this means that the rise in South-South trade often hides issues around ownership. Around two-thirds of China’s processing trade was undertaken by foreign-owned enterprises (PURUGGANAN, JAFRI & SOLON, 2014, p.17).
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This point of view is also shared by the former UNCTAD chief economist Yialmaz Akyuz who looks to China exports not as a growth in South-South trade, but actually closely linked to Sinocentric production networks. As he noted:
East Asia accounts for three-quarters of South-South trade and China’s share is around 40%, China also comprises close to 60% of South-South imports in Asia and 58% and 65% of Asian Developing and Emerging Economies’ imports from Africa and Latin America, respectively (ADB, 2011). Again, the shares of other DEEs in South-South trade are small, for India it is around 5% and for the rest of the developing world, including Latin America and Africa, it is around 25% (AKYUZ, 2012, p.30). According to him (2012),
“these trade shares imply that major Developing and Emerging Economies (DEEs) other than China, including India and Brazil, cannot act as a driving force for the South (AKYUZ, 2012, p.30). To sum up, it is important to analyze that even though the emerging countries has raised in the international scope and it can consequently improve international competition in the economic area, the south-south cooperation should be seen with a deeper understanding due to the fact that the arguments to open up markets from the south not always is the only or the best option to optimize its economies, especially when it is considered that emerging countries has been increasing its economies in different rates and moreover, developed countries such as the USA and European countries has disparities in many aspects of their trades if compared with developing countries.
FINAL REMARKS
There is no doubt that the financial and economic scenario has been getting some important changes, especially because the third world, using a Cold War vocabulary, has raised in the 21st century. This statement was surely approached in the article and what is taken by that is the main functions the BRICS and their bank should do hereafter.
Some facts from the past show the importance of approaching the road of the group in the future. It is undoubtedly impossible not to mention the difficulties the Western powers faced and has been facing to retrieve themselves since the crisis in 2008. That is the reason why some achievement should be focused by the BRICS to establish its clout in the new international scope. As an example, after the idea of creating a development bank what needs to be aimed by
13 the group is the amount of money to put into action all the projects to develop the infrastructure and promote the economic growth of the emerging countries.
The main role of the BRICS is increasing its participation in the international economic scenario of the 21st century, whereas the member-states has showed significant increasing since the first summit in 2009. Therefore, the NDB has surely a major role to make it happen, and it will probably be done as a complementation to the IMF and World Bank as it was exhibited in the article.
Another issue that must be concerned from the BRICS is the projection of the members in the multilateral organizations such as IMF, G20 and WTO, having more capacity to bargain with the major powers of the globe as well as taking essential decisions in the major meetings where emerging countries are able of putting into discussion some issues that might benefit not only the superpowers but also themselves.
As the moment in the international relations is full of contradiction, the BRICS has not had a visible approach yet, due to the fact that there are many other questions that the major chief of states discuss in the multilateral meetings, such as political crisis in the Middle East which brings into discussion the immigration from these areas of war to Europe for example. Nevertheless, the next summits of BRICS are critical moments when all the heads of state are able of talking and getting some convergent questions to improve the clout of the group in the international scope.
To conclude, with deep researches about the BRICS and its bank, what could be seen is that it is inevitably impossible to legitimate their participation in this new world after the 2008 crisis and ascension of emerging countries such as the members of this institution. The main objective of this research is to show how these less developed actors acted and should act in the international relations to make their own role in this area become greater.
REFERENCES
ABDENUR, Adriana E & FOLLY, Maiara. The New Development Bank and the Institutionalization of the BRICS. R/evolutions: Global Trends & Regional Issues, ISSN: 2449-6413 Vol 3, No. 1, p. 66-92, 2015. Available in:
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ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK. Asian Development Outlook 2011. South-South Economic Links, ISSN 0117-0481, 2011. Available in:
RIOS, Sandra Polónia. O que há em comum na agenda econômica dos BRICS? In O Brasil, os BRICS e a Agenda Internacional. Brasília: FUNAG, 2012. pp. 235-244. Available in: < http://funag.gov.br/loja/download/1032-Brasil_os_BRICS_e_a_agenda_internacional_O.pdf> Access on: June 28th, 2018 SMITH, Jack A. BRIC Becomes BRICS: Changes on the Geopolitical Chessboard. Foreign Policy Journal, January 21st, 2011. Available in:
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