The Brics bloc is struggling for relevance despite growing its membership

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The annual summit of Brics, a growing world grouping seen as the Global South’s answer to the G7, met in Rio on Sunday and Monday. But its two heaviest hitters stayed away.

So what? Presidents Xi and Putin were absent at a time when the coalition faces the toughest test of its relevance since it was founded in 2009, even as it expands. The 11 members of Brics account for about 40 per cent of global GDP, and their average growth rate remains significantly ahead of the rest of the world. But the Rio summit faced critical challenges including

• last year’s addition of Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia, which has brought fresh divisions and entrenched old ones;
• wars in the Middle East and Ukraine; and
• Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Xi’s no-show. China is by far the largest Brics economy and styles itself as a leader of the developing world. So Xi not turning up for the first time in more than a decade, without a credible excuse, has to be seen as a downgrading of the importance Beijing accords the group.

Lula’s loss. Xi’s absence was particularly felt by Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has ambitions to bolster his country’s leadership role within Brics and among developing countries seeking the democratisation of the international system.

Putin’s absence. Putin, Xi’s closest ally in Brics, beamed in by video link to claim the liberal order is “obsolete”. He faced arrest if he travelled to Brazil in person since the country is part of the International Criminal Court, which has an outstanding warrant for Putin for the alleged abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children.

Another Bric in the wall. The grouping called the bombing of Iran, one of its new faces, a “blatant breach of international law” but didn’t mention the US or Israel by name – an indicator of the limited influence of Brics, which cannot back up statements with policies.

Autocratic drift. The more than doubling of Brics membership last year, largely driven by China, drew concerns from members such as India and Brazil because it tilts the grouping much further towards autocracy. Among the new members, only Indonesia is a democracy, while Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the UAE are authoritarian states in varying degrees.

Competing loyalties. The Saudis and Emiratis, meanwhile, are staunch military allies of the US, while India is also stepping up its defence partnerships with the West. This has further fragmented a bloc that was already struggling for cohesion. At an earlier meeting in April, its foreign ministers failed to agree on a final statement.

And yet. The grouping remains useful politically, especially to Russia. Its statement – signed off by two key American allies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE – barely mentioned Russia’s actions in Ukraine, beyond calling for a “sustainable peace settlement” and criticising Ukraine’s strikes on Russian infrastructure in May and June.

For developing nations, the bloc still represents the most credible alternative to the US-led West and is a useful forum for expressing dissatisfaction with the current world order. Around 30 countries have applied to join or expressed interest in joining, including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkey, a NATO member.

Talk of the town. While its statement covered everything from AI and food production to boosting the representation of the Global South in multilateral institutions, Trump’s trade policies took up much of the summit’s attention. The bloc lamented “unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures”, but did not directly call out the Trump administration – another pulled punch.

That’s unlikely to stop Trump…. In fact, he immediately hit back with a threat to impose extra duties of 10 per cent on countries that align themselves with “anti-American policies”.

Photography by Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty