The BRICS summit of 2024 has captured the world’s attention as the developing world leaders troop into a high-level summit to debate issues pertaining to the Ukraine crisis, economic cooperation, and global stability. One of the most strongly witnessed events of the summit was when Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly spent their time discussing the present war in Ukraine, as well as more general geopolitical issues. Both Russia and China referred to the press to convey that these consultations were of prime importance to determine the future course of action by both nations on issues relating to the world.
Rise of Influence of BRICS Bloc
As referred above, BRICS Bloc has garnered colossal influence in world matters and will continue gaining the status of a superpower in the days to come.
With BRICS, or the BRIC countries representing a significant percentage of the world’s population and economic output, their influence in global politics will only continue to rise in the years to come. From this perspective, summits have remained a gathering point for these nations to voice their concept of a multipolar world system in contrast to the past bipolar and more so unipolar world order controlled by the United States and its Western allies. This year, therefore, saw the talks transcend economic cooperation and include defence, diplomacy, and regional stability.
China and Russia, in particular, are keen to enhance their standing as counterweights to Western influence and, on their own part, are rallying for a restructuring of international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The summit this year reflected that trend as leaders from BRICS countries repeated their demands for reforms in global governance in the quest for a better-balanced and more equitable international system.
Ukraine Crisis Takes Center Stage
At the core of the talks between Putin and Xi at the summit were the ongoing war in Ukraine. Though the Kremlin is not going into specifics about the content of the discussion between the two leaders, it was pretty evident that the Ukraine conflict was not left out of their conversation. Since the start of the war in early 2022, China has remained relatively ambiguous on the issue of the war. It has avoided blame of Russia for military action and, at the same time, urged to reach a conclusion via dialogue and negotiation.
In previous summits, Beijing called for resolving the Ukraine conflict peacefully as well as President Xi presented a 12-point peace plan focusing on de-escalation. But analysts point out that an impartial China relies largely on implicitly taking the side of Russia, especially in light of economic and diplomatic engagements connecting the two parties. The summit in 2024 opened up avenues for Putin and Xi further to align themselves with the conflict as well as possible channels of cooperation regarding the handling of the crisis.
The war on Ukraine has entailed very significant economic and political costs for Russia. The Western sanctions have been target-specific, basically targeting the key sectors of the Russian economy, and have forced Moscow to expand its economic and diplomatic relationships with the rest of the non-Western countries, especially China. In this sense, the BRICS summit is an excellent opportunity for Russia to be able to consolidate its alliances and solicit further backing from its partners in the bloc.
Economic Cooperation Gains Momentum
Going beyond the Ukraine conflict, the BRICS summits have traditionally been an avenue for economic cooperation among its member nations. This year was not different. Putin and Xi generally discussed trade, investment, and infrastructure development over issues of promoting further economic cooperation between their countries and the rest of the BRICS community, which was perceived to be forced forward by growing geopolitical tensions and the distortion of global supply chains.
Both countries have collaborated to enhance trade ties, targeting sectors like energy, agriculture, and technology. With the West imposing sanctions on Moscow, China has become even more crucial as a trading partner; bilateral trade with China has reached new heights. The summit again emphasized their resolve to strengthen economic ties between the two countries as both undertake new cooperation areas, such as joint infrastructure projects and digital innovation.
Apart from bilateral cooperation that saw BRICS members deliberate on proposals to increase intra-BRICS trade and investments, the summit acted as an avenue where the entire bloc could deliberate on initiatives regarding intra-BRICS trade and investment improvement. Leaders reviewed new financial instruments, such as the implementation of a common digital currency in the entire BRICS community, which could reduce dependence on dollar reserves of the United States and ease its trading with each other. This has been presented in the preceding summits and is one of the plans of the bloc in the long-term economic growth.
Geopolitical Realignment and Global Stability
The 2024 summit also underlined wider geopolitical realignments that are taking place across the international system. Russia and China, along with BRICS, have been demanding a new world order that reflects the reality of multipolarity. Such a vision stands in sharp contrast to the current one dominated by Western powers and the head of BRICS representatives used the summit as an opportunity to express their desire for greater representation in the institutions and decision-making processes as such.
For Putin and Xi, the BRICS summit was a good opportunity to get on the same page over several hot issues in the world. In their discussion, the leaders reportedly brought up global stability, which cuts across all the activities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Both Russia and China have sought to gain greater influence in the regions through economic and diplomatic forays, ensuring an end to Western hegemony.
Indeed, over the past years or so, both countries have been building up alliances with the Global South, creating a new configuration challenging traditional, Western-centric world order. The BRICS summit continued to be the vehicle that furthered this agenda: BRICS states debated the possibility of growing their global influence in Africa and Latin America and more recently in Southeast Asia.
Conclusion: A Critical Moment in Global Diplomacy
The 2024 BRICS summit marked growing interest in this bloc as a player in world politics. It was also very important for Russia and China since it marked the possibility of Putin and Xi’s stances over foreign issues, including Ukraine and the future of the global economy. In such a scenario, BRICS nations are establishing themselves as the main powers in this new multipolar order that the world is witnessing.
Because the negotiations between Putin and Xi focused both on hot crises, like Ukraine, and long-term global strategies, diplomacy at the 2024 BRICS summit may end up being a watershed date in international relations. It underlined how the BRICS block of countries is gathering strength in challenging classical power structures of the global order, indicating, perhaps, a new geopolitical era unfolding in the world.
