The eighth BRICS Summit is going to be held in Goa in the month of October 2016. How does the CPI(M) view the role of BRICS in the background of the internal political developments in these countries?

R Sengupta, Kolkata

THE eighth BRICS Summit is going to be held in Goa on October 15-16, 2016. BRICS is a grouping of five developing countries, which together constitute 42 percent of the world's population and more than 14 percent of the world's GDP. The global economic crisis has enhanced the importance of the developing countries in the world economy. BRICS is one expression of cooperation among countries of the South, which are coordinating their positions on issues like UN reforms, international trade, climate change, etc, and seeking more say for the developing countries in international fora. The BRICS has the potential to emerge as a partnership for global stability and security. This potential needs to be nurtured and developed in order to create a reasonable countervailing force to prevent the world from becoming a victim to unilateralism and hegemonism.

In fact, it is due to the popular pressure that the declarations adopted in the last two summits of the BRICS had categorically opposed the unilateral US military intervention in Syria and called for a political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis in Syria through a wide dialogue between the Syrian parties. They expressed support to the national sovereignty of Iraq and opposed the US attempts to divide the country on sectarian lines. Similarly, BRICS condemned the role of Israel in West Asia, its occupation of Palestinian territories and supported the demand for an independent Palestinian State with pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital. BRICS also declared its opposition to mass electronic surveillance and data collection of individuals all over the world by the US.

In economic sphere, the establishment of New Development Bank or the BRICS Bank, is intended to serve as a powerful instrument for financing infrastructure investment and sustainable development projects in the BRICS and other developing countries and emerging market economies. This Bank is also to gradually enhance the economic cooperation between the countries in the group and reduce the dependence on the existing multilateral financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. This Bank, located in Shanghai, is headed by India. It is expected that the inaugural investment project of the Bank will be announced during the Goa Summit. The Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) initiated along with the Bank, is to provide a valuable contribution to the global financial safety net.

However, it should be noted that BRICS is a conglomeration of countries, not only with diverse social systems (socialist China standing together with the rest of the capitalist countries), but also of different governments. The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil and the right-wing government of BJP in India are bound to have an influence on the positions taken by BRICS.

After the impeachment of Rousseff, Vice President Tremer who was sworn in as the president, vowed to strengthen the strained relations with the US. The new administration also has signaled that it will slowly move away from the various anti-imperialist progressive regional groupings.

In India, we are already witnessing how the BJP government is moving closer to the US and away from the famed policy of non-alignment. The recent Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) entered with the US and the non-participation of Prime Minister Modi in the NAM summit are some recent pointers in this direction.

These developments get reflected in the policies adopted by the respective governments, both internal and external and will certainly have an influence on the positions that the BRICS as a group takes in the coming Goa Summit. The only way to ensure that interests of people do not get sacrificed at the altar of imperialism is by maintaining a strict vigil and mobilising people. It is only through popular mobilisations that we can ensure that BRICS remains on the road for multi-polarity and as a representative of the peoples of the developing world.