The XVI BRICS Heads of State Meeting starts today in Kazan. The year of Russia’s presidency in the association can be called different from all previous ones, a new stage in the club’s development.
And that is not yet the limit
The main point of suspense surrounding the event is the question of the group’s future expansion. Throughout the year, there was constantly new information on the intentions of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to apply for membership in BRICS or BRICS Plus. The number of applicants is so large that it became necessary for the group to develop and agree on completely new procedures and categories. This takes time and the blueprint for how multilateral cooperation between BRICS and BRICS Plus (or BRICS partner states) will be arranged technically in terms of expansion remains open.
Another yet unanswered question related to the summit is the list of external participants. Aide to the Russian President Yuri Ushakov announced to journalists that the leadership of 32 countries will be in attendance, of which 24 will be represented at the highest level. Besides them, the heads of international organisations are also expected. Very soon we shall learn which states will officially announce their applications to join the group in Kazan or to ‘consolidate’ their place in BRICS Plus with their presence.
Finally, the summit’s final document, i.e. the declaration adopted as a result of negotiations, will be extremely important, fundamental to the international agenda. Past Russian BRICS presidencies have shown how elaborate and comprehensive the declarations prepared by our country are and how many innovations and significant norms they contain.
Three days in one
Until the declaration is adopted, participants will have loads of work to do. There are many discussions for approval and negotiation formats ahead. Three sites have been allocated for the summit: Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre, Kazan City Hall and the Governor’s Palace in the Kazan Kremlin. October 22 and 23 will exclusively see meetings between member states. In addition, from October 23, events in the BRICS Plus/BRICS Outreach formats will also take place. The main topic of their agenda will be ‘BRICS and the Global South: Building a better world together’. Also, numerous bilateral meetings between the leaders of BRICS and BRICS Plus states are planned throughout the summit from October 21 to 24.
The organisers of the summit are also promising a bright cultural programme. The Roscongress Foundation’s social platform, the Innosocium Foundation, will host the ‘Ethnographic Mosaic’ exhibition dedicated to the diversity of cultures of BRICS states at Kazan Expo. A large-scale light show will be shown on the walls of the Kazan Kremlin. A sizeable exhibition, ‘Made in Tatarstan’, dedicated to the industrial and technological achievements of this Russian region, will be opened in the building of the local parliament and on the site next to it. In addition, all major Kazan museums have prepared new exhibitions. The Tatarstan State Dance Ensemble has scheduled the premiere of the play ‘National Show of Russia’ for October 24. Guests will also be able to visit a number of theatrical pieces, including performances by the owners of the Golden Mask. The Kazan Circus will show the audience the Echo of Asia mini-festival; the Mir cinema will organise a series of screenings of the latest locally produced films and a creative meeting with film director Grigoriy Nakhapetov.
A successful year
The motto of the Russian BRICS presidency is ‘Strengthening multilateralism for equitable global development and security’. As its priorities for this year, our country has highlighted the consistent and harmonious integration of new members of the association in terms of cooperation, the creation of strong BRICS ties with developing countries and their integration associations, assistance to the institutional development of BRICS and strengthening multilateral cooperation in all areas.
The number of implemented formats of cooperation in BRICS today is not just big, but colossal. A lot of the events organised by Russia are real innovations in the BRICS calendar. This is the first meeting of the BRICS working group on nuclear medicine, training of the on-duty services of the crisis management centres of BRICS states on the exchange of operational information in the case of emergencies, a meeting of the participants of the BRICS Channel on information security, a meeting of the Contact Group on Climate, negotiations of the Working Group on Employment, a meeting of the Working Group on Tourism and much more.
It is particularly noteworthy that an unprecedented number of events will be held in the BRICS Plus format, i.e. open to participants outside the group. It was in this open format that Russia held a meeting of high representatives of BRICS and BRICS Plus states in charge of security issues, the BRICS Plus International Municipal Forum, the BRICS Plus Fashion Summit, the BRICS Plus Forum of Young Diplomats, the BRICS Plus Youth Energy Summit and others.
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The year of the Russian presidency has revealed to the world, one might say, a completely new face of BRICS: this structure has reached full maturity and flourishing, rightfully representing the interests of the non-Western world, the global majority, the Global East and Global South. The negotiations and decisions of the summit in Kazan still lie ahead, but it is already clear that they will be the beginning of a new stage in life and development, not in the technical sense of the organisation of summits and forums, but organising a new format, more open and flexible, that will be in constant motion and probably be more promising than all other traditional structures of multilateral diplomacy in the world.
Ksenia Muratshina, PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
