Update(1704ET): In their inaugural day ‘family photo’, BRICS leaders posed without Russia’s President Putin, as FM Lavrov took his place given the ICC arrest warrant and Rome Statute would require the South African government to seek his arrest.
Putin addressed the summit remotely, and emphasized in the Russian-language speech that de-dollarization is “gaining momentum”. He said the dollar’s receding global centrality is an “objective and irreversible” process. As expected he struck an optimistic tone about the bloc’s future, also at a moment China’s XI is urging BRICS to become a geopolitical rival to the G7:
The Russian leader claimed the five BRICS members – Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa – are becoming the new world economic leaders, adding that their cumulative share of global GDP has reached 26%.
He noted that if measured by purchasing power parity, BRICS has already surpassed the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations – accounting for 31% of the global economy, compared to 30% for the G7.
Over the past 10 years, mutual investment between the BRICS member states has increased by six times. Their total investments in the world economy have doubled, while cumulative exports account for 20% of the global total, Putin said.