Sergey Saenko, international observer

XVI BRICS summit was held in Kazan on October 22-24. It was a truly unique event. In terms of the number of leaders and heads of international organizations who came, it was one of the largest foreign policy forums that our country has ever held.

The event was attended by representatives of 36 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the leadership of six international organizations. Moreover, 22 delegations were headed by the leaders of these countries. These figures alone indicate that all attempts by the West to isolate Russia have failed.

It is believed that in terms of scale and significance, the BRICS summit in Kazan was an event comparable in some ways to the 1980 Summer Olympics in the USSR or the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. And as experts believe, it is one of those that will be talked about for a long time and remembered for decades. And there is every reason for this, since the decisions made at the BRICS summit in Kazan will largely determine the development of humanity in the coming decades. However, let’s take everything in order.

The first day of the forum was devoted mainly to bilateral negotiations. Thus, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African and Egyptian Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as well as the head of the BRICS New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff. Incidentally, the next day, October 23, the Russian leader met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had arrived for the summit. On Tuesday evening, the guests attended a concert and continued their conversation at an informal dinner.

The main events of the summit took place on Wednesday, October 23, when the current members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the UAE and Ethiopia) began a general discussion. And the main topics of discussion were deepening financial cooperation and further expansion of the association. These topics were of concern not only to the participants of the summit in Kazan, but also to other countries. Suffice it to say that already now more than 30 countries have expressed a desire to cooperate with BRICS in one form or another.

According to Vladimir Putin “balance is important here we cannot allow a decrease in the effectiveness of the association”. For this reason, as experts believe, BRICS will continue to cooperate with other countries mainly on the basis of partnership. Incidentally, it should be noted that Washington, London and Brussels are increasingly concerned about the attractiveness of this association for many countries of the world, although the collective West does not yet see a real competitor in BRICS.

At the same time the West especially the United States, is very concerned about the BRICS countries’ offensive against the American dollar. And this concern is quite justified, since the issue of financial cooperation was considered one of the main issues on the agenda of the past forum even before the summit in Kazan. According to most experts, the BRICS countries cannot completely abandon the dollar at the moment, but they will try to minimize the use of the main world currency in their internal settlements, giving preference to national currencies.

According to President Putin, the course towards good neighborliness, mutual consideration of interests is especially important now, when “truly fundamental changes are taking place, the process of forming a multipolar world is underway.” It should be noted that Chinese leader Xi Jinping also called for adhering to the concept of multilateralism, taking into account the opinions of the countries of the Global South. And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed his readiness to interact with all interested states.

It should be noted that on Wednesday the meeting continued in an expanded format with the participation of members of delegations and representatives of international organizations who arrived in Kazan. It was at this meeting that Vladimir Putin, as per tradition, touched upon the quantitative indicators of the association. And they, let us note, are quite impressive. “The share of BRICS countries in terms of purchasing power parity by the end of 2024 will be 36.7%, which confidently exceeds the share of the Group of Seven countries (30% – editor’s note),” the Russian president said. “A multipolar model is being formed, which launches a new wave of growth, primarily due to the Global South and East, and, naturally, the BRICS states,” Putin said.

He also noted that Russia has a number of proposals for the further development of the association. Among them: the construction of a new BRICS investment platform, which will be aimed at supporting the national economies and countries of the Global South and East, the creation of an alliance in the field of artificial intelligence, the opening of a grain exchange and a separate platform for precious metals and diamonds.

On the second day of the summit, its participants adopted the final Kazan Declaration, which recorded 106 points that correspond to the theme of the meeting: “strengthening multilateralism for equitable global development and security”. Moreover as Vladimir Putin specified it will also be distributed to the UN. The document summed up the results of the Russian chairmanship in 2024 and outlined priorities for the future. By the way, Brazil will chair BRICS in 2025. Thus, the declaration notes that the countries confirm their “commitment to the spirit of BRICS, which is based on mutual respect and understanding, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusiveness, interaction and consensus,” and the expansion of partnership will contribute to the common good.

The document also states that in order to better adapt the modern architecture of international relations to new realities; BRICS reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism and compliance with international law, including the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter as its integral fundamental element, and to maintaining the central role of this organization in the international arena.

Kazan summit could not ignore the conflict around Ukraine. On this matter, the final declaration states: “We emphasize that all states must act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelatedness. We note with satisfaction the relevant proposals for mediation and good offices aimed at ensuring a peaceful settlement of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy”.

On the final day of the summit, October 24, meetings were held in the BRICS+/outreach format in which 40 countries took part. This is a comprehensive mechanism for interaction with sovereign countries that are geographically and ideologically close to the association, which, despite different development models, religions and cultures, are united by common values ​​and worldviews. After all the events in Kazan, the Russian president gave a final press conference, at which he answered numerous questions from journalists.

It seems that the summit in Kazan has clearly demonstrated that irreversible changes are taking place in the world, and many countries of the planet do not accept international relations built on the dictate of some countries in relation to others. At the same time, the past forum demonstrated that the activities of BRICS are not directed against anyone, and the countries whose representatives gathered in the capital of Tatarstan are united not by hatred of the West, but by resistance to what is happening in the world today. For this reason, it is not surprising that for the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, BRICS is an alternative to the Western development model.

 In conclusion it should be noted that during the summit a light show was demonstrated in the evenings on the walls of the Kazan Kremlin, where panoramas of lands with minarets were replaced by equally large lands with Christian churches. And this once again clearly emphasized: “Greater BRICS is not an anti-Western mechanism.” And its goal is to change the unfair aspects of the existing system of international relations, making it more equal, uniting the West and the Global South, and the East in the interests of all humanity. And a significant step in this direction was made by the BRICS leaders at the summit in Kazan.