BRICS v. United States

As of 1 January 2024, he was officially joined by the United arabian Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, invited to BRICS for the 15th BRICS summit.

Thus the number of members of the group increased to ten. Of course, this will affect uncovering a fresh name for the block. The name ‘BRICS+’ is likely to be utilized in the first stage.

What does an extension of BRICS mean?

BRICS expansion expands the expansion of opposition to the current American-centric planet order. The association, which embodies the search for a more just and multipolar planet order, with the admission of fresh members, turns to a wider political, cultural and economical geographical space. In the BRICS countries, after enlargement, the importance of Africa and the mediate East has grown significantly. In this sense, these regions will become the fresh centre of global geopolitical challenges.

One of the countries invited to BRICS was Argentina. While erstwhile left-wing president Alberto Fernández, whose word of office expired on 10 December 2023, welcomed the country's membership of BRICS, the fresh president Javier Miley, which is positioned as an anarchocapitalist, took the other approach and declared that Argentina would not join the association. An example of Argentina shows that a possible change in the power strategy may affect the expansion of BRICS. In the event of extremist change to the political Olimpa in the recently annexed countries, membership of BRICS may be suspended or terminated. This is simply a sign that BRICS needs a supra-governmental and more organization structure.

What can BRICS and fresh members give each other?

With the addition of fresh members, the full population in the block countries reached 3.5 billion people, almost half the world's number. This means that BRICS is indeed becoming a global association. One of the striking features of fresh members is that they are oil-producing countries. In the current structure, BRICS is liable for at least 40% of global oil extraction and has since been a player to be reckoned with in the hydrocarbon market. The full size of BRICS economies (US$28,5 trillion) besides increased significantly, accounting for about 1 3rd of planet production.

The increasing importance of BRICS in the global economy can lead to the Bretton Woods system, which drives US capital exports, losing its influence in the long term. BRICS can give fresh members a chance to gain a counterweight in abroad policy. In particular, countries that want to balance U.S. influence can draw strength from their BRICS membership. fresh block members, with a stronger abroad policy, will be motivated to minimize problems between themselves and to get a "derived power" in relations with competitors outside BRICS.

Is Turkey's accession possible?

Turkey is known to be positively committed to cooperation with BRICS. In 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said Turkey was considering joining the fresh improvement Bank created by BRICS to benefit from its projects. In 2018, the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who participated in the 10th BRICS Summit, advocated organization cooperation between Turkey and the bloc. It was yet announced that Turkey's membership of the association would be discussed at the BRICS summit in 2022, together with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

It becomes clear that the decision to invitation Turkey to BRICS has not been taken and the group has not been able to scope a consensus on this. Moreover, Turkey was not among the 22 countries that declared their willingness to join BRICS in 2023. It is actual that Turkey has late pursued the most multidimensional and balanced abroad policy, building close relations with both the Western planet and with leading BRICS players specified as Russia and China, but it may not be as easy for NATO associate State to join the anti-Natatian group as it seems.

What about dedolation?

The accession of 5 fresh countries, including the world's largest oil exporters, to the BRICS block could accelerate the decline in the dollar's importance in planet trade. president of China Xi Jinping During a visit to Saudi Arabia in December 2022 he invited Gulf countries to trade oil and natural gas on the Shanghai stock exchange in yuan, and a fewer months after this visit, China National Offshore Oil corp first applied yuan in global trade and brought in 65 000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas from the United arabian Emirates. In addition, Saudi Finance Minister Muhammad el-Cedan said Saudi Arabia is "open to non-dollar trade negotiations". This message means more than the end of the Petrodolara system, due to the fact that dedollarisation means that all global trade, including oil supplies, can be conducted in another currencies. The fresh decision by Brazil and China to conduct bilateral trade in national currencies is the beginning of steps in this direction.

At the BRICS Summit in 2023, it was talked about the creation of a working group to make its own currency, it was pointed out that the BRICS members would conclude contracts based on their national currencies. In addition, it is planned to make the essential payment systems to guarantee a inexpensive and safe flow of money between participants. In this context, 3 issues will be a precedence at the BRICS summit in Russia in 2024: strengthening the function of BRICS in the global financial system; strengthening cooperation between BRICS banks and utilizing BRICS currencies; promoting taxation and customs cooperation between BRICS associate States.

As the BRICS economies have their own characteristics, the common currency may not be as applicable at this stage, but a cryptocurrency or gold-based currency that could be utilized in global trade can become a possible competitor for a dollar. The BRICS countries are presently discussing the usage of digital currencies that will let them to exchange financial data and transactions outside the global SWIFT system. As an innovative solution at the moment, we can see the digital dirham issued by the central bank of the United arabian Emirates. The Chinese cross-border payment strategy offers clearing services for transactions in yuan between banks in different countries. Indian Single Payment Interface, the fast digital payment strategy Pix developed by the central bank of Brazil and mobile money (M-Pesa) utilized in many African countries are examples that can contribute to the improvement of BRICS digital payment systems. Digital currencies facilitate the transportation and control of money, let a fast transfer of money and let for full traceability. The single digital currency can so be an crucial step towards the de-dollarisation envisaged by the BRICS, as well as a useful tool to reduce corruption.

The author of the article is Mürsel Bayram, associate professor, habilitated doctor, head of the Department of African Studies at the University of Social Sciences in Ankara.

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