The BRICS group has become a major political force in the last two decades, building on its desire to create a counterweight to Western influence in global institutions. The group’s expansion in 2023 increased its heft. After Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined it in 2023, the alliance that initially referred to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has gradually become a bigger body.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS closing session in the southwestern Russian city of Kazan said all countries joining the bloc “share similar aspirations and values and a vision of new democratic global order.”

The three-day summit, which ended on Thursday last, also provided a platform for member countries to discuss plans to deepen financial cooperation and develop alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems.

But at the same time, the summit also brought out new disagreements on issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s 2024 leadership could intensify the bloc’s anti-West focus, including attempts to edge out the US dollar – though experts feel that it may be an uphill task.

Though there are assumptions that the bloc could undermine the Western-led international order, sceptics say its ambitions to create its own currency and develop a workable alternative to existing institutions face potentially insurmountable challenges.

In fact, BRICS is not a formal organisation, but rather a loose bloc of non-Western economies that seek to build an alternative to what they see as the dominance of the Western viewpoint in major multilateral groupings, such as the World Bank, the Group of Seven (G7), and the UN Security Council.

The group’s 2024 expansion comes with a range of geopolitical........

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