The 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, is approaching, but we can guess what will be discussed among leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They are expected to offer their ideas on upholding the multipolar world order and challenge Western dominance and ideology.

For Russia, the main topic of discussion will be more political than economic. Moscow views BRICS as a union that should challenge Washington and its allies. Beijing also wants to limit Western influence on its internal politics, such as Hong Kong affairs.

However, Moscow’s anti-Western and anti-US agenda appears more radical. The Chinese approach is moderate and concentrated on the economy, which explains why it appears to be more forward-looking.

Since 2001, when Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O’Neill invented the abbreviation BRIC (later BRICS), members have faced problems with finding common interests. From a political perspective, there are significant differences between the five-member nations. Each one has a different social and political system, national core interests and unique style when addressing internal and foreign politics, allies and adversaries.

The situation has forced efforts to answer the question, “What is BRICS now and what it is going to be in the nearest future?”

One answer is how BRICS has successfully completed the transformation from a dialogue forum to full-fledged cooperation mechanism. And the path has been revealed by China.

Russia will chair BRICS next year, and Russian diplomats have revealed plans, for example, to support by any means the Chinese concepts of a BRICS+. The underlying idea is not centered on how to expand the BRICS core (although Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, and other countries would like to join the club), but to engage economic partners worldwide.

Socio-political varieties beg questions over a BRICS existence. However, once discussions are held on economic cooperation within the BRICS+ framework, everything changes, and its feasibility is obvious.

Among other things, BRICS+ means cooperation between regional integration associations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Eurasian Economic Union, Mercosur, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Format convergence will allow expansion for free trade agreements and foster mutual development.

Furthermore, such cooperation will boost Russia and China’s role and three other BRICS members in the international arena. One issue that has received criticism from Moscow and Beijing is a lack of balance with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Now, the consolidated share of BRICS countries in the IMF during the voting has not exceeded 15 percent. So, Russia and China have claimed the IMF vote structure no longer reflects reality, given the increase in the weight of emerging countries within the global economy.

Equally important are other economic plans that will be discussed in Brazil and next year during Russia’s chairmanship. BRICS members have mentioned the main goals in reducing US dollar dependence thanks to increased use of national currencies in mutual trade. It’s an ambitious task, and its importance was noted long ago by Moscow and Beijing. Promoting the ruble and yuan as reserve currencies is easier when you aren’t alone but in the BRICS framework.

Also, among priorities is the New Development Bank (NDB), responsible for financing infrastructure projects, and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). Both have the same goal: create an alternative to the Western-controlled financial system.

As two core BRICS members, Russia and China are capable of pushing cooperation to more sectors. Thus, through cooperation in the BRICS format, Russia and China can strengthen bilateral ties, achieve political goals, and create a multipolar global system.

The author is foreign desk deputy editor at Kommersant daily newspaper (Russia)

(In association with Global Times)