Dear colleagues,
this past year has been full of hopes and new endeavors in what was the second year of operation for BRICS+ Analytics. We would like to thank our clients and readers for the support, constructive criticism and cooperation throughout this year! We are eagerly looking forward to new projects and ideas to be discussed in the coming year 2025!
The year 2024 was a period of exponential growth for our franchise – our subscriber base has grown nearly five-fold, we have significantly increased research production and have published it in leading BRICS academic journals[1] and global platforms such as the T20[2]. We have also conducted trips to the two largest members of the BRICS grouping – China and India – and have reported back to you our views on the development trends in these economies[3].
As we look back at the events of 2024 we note the many developments in the world economy that confirmed our expectations and forecasts that we covered in our research:
- Closer linkages between BRICS and ASEAN[4]: Malaysia and Thailand applied for full BRICS membership[5], while also becoming members of the new BRICS partnership belt together with Indonesia. Within the new partnership belt ASEAN has the greatest representation of all the regions and regional blocs of the Global South.
- The emergence of the BRICS Partnership belt[6]: The list of BRICS Partners was approved during the 2024 BRICS summit[7]. This new trajectory of BRICS cooperation between core members and their allies from the developing world may be considered as yet another modality of the evolving BRICS+ format
- BRICS New Development Bank participates in the G20 meetings[8]: the Bank participated for the first time in the G20 summit meetings and together with other development institutions expressed support for the reform roadmap of multilateral development banks adopted by the G20[9]
- BRICS and regional integration blocs[10]: since 2017 we argued in favour of closer cooperation among the regional integration blocs of the BRICS economies as a central feature of the BRICS+ format. The 2024 BRICS summit featured the invitation of the regional blocs such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, though it stopped short of creating a full-fledged platform for regional arrangements.
- A BRICS alliance in the WTO[11]: The pursuit of greater policy coordination and a common platform among the BRICS economies in the WTO has been our long-standing call to action. BRICS agreed to closer policy coordination within the WTO, though the creation of a common group within the “group in negotiations” of the WTO is yet to come[12].
- The MERCOSUR-EU deal[13]: we expected the EU-MERCOSUR negotiations to be completed in 2024, with the finalization of talks paving the road to the creation of one of the key platforms for “North-South” cooperation[14].
- Sectoral platforms to be developed by BRICS+ economies[15]: in line with our forecasts from 2023 BRICS economies stepped up discussions on sectoral alliances/platforms that may involve platforms for rare-earth metals, grain[16] and other commodities
- Platform for Sovereign Wealth Funds[17]: we have argued in favor of the creation of SWF platforms to coordinate investments linked to sustainable development projects. The platform for African SWFs has been formed between IE University, the UN Joint SDG Fund and the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds – the platform is expected to be broadened to other regions of the world economy in the future[18].
Not all that we were hoping to see in 2024 met our expectations or predictions – most importantly, we are yet to witness the creation of a full-fledged platform for regional integration arrangements within BRICS+ or the G20. As we stated in the preceding years, this is one of the relatively easy-to-do steps in the direction of boosting multilateralism and creating new communication lines for economic diplomacy.
Overall, we believe that the coming year 2025 will open new opportunities to boost economic cooperation across the Global South and between developed and developing economies. Challenges will also abound and the one that raises most concerns is protectionism as well as the slowdown in some of the leading developing (China, India) and developed economies (Germany). Our hope is that these challenges will be met with a policy response that relies on international economic cooperation and innovation for the broader benefit of the world economy.
We wish all our clients and readers a very Happy New Year and may it be a peaceful and prosperous year 2025 for all of us across the globe!
With very best wishes for the year 2025,
Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder, BRICS+ Analytics
[1] https://brics-econ.arphahub.com/browse_journal_articles_by_author?user_id=198093
[2]https://t20brasil.org/media/documentos/arquivos/TF06_ST_01__Potential_modaliti66faf04a984fe.pdf
[3] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/china-trip-notes/; https://brics-plus-analytics.org/india-trip-notes-part-1/; https://brics-plus-analytics.org/india-trip-notes-part-2/
[4] https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/asean-and-brics-opportunities-for-cooperation/50170964
[5] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/asean-and-brics-pathways-to-cooperation/
[6] https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/02/11/brics-reaching-out-to-peaks-the-next-wave-of-expansion/
[7] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/the-significance-of-the-brics-partnership-belt/
[8] https://cryptorank.io/news/feed/bb873-brics-bank-positioning-itself-alongside-imf-world-bank
[9] https://www.ndb.int/news/multilateral-development-banks-welcome-g20-roadmap-for-mdb-reform/
[10] https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/comments/brics-plus-the-new-force-in-global-governance/?sphrase_id=144058236
[11] https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/brics-plus-alternative-globalization-in-the-making/
[12] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/brics-agree-to-policy-coordination-in-the-wto/
[13] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/regionalism-in-2024-new-platforms-to-emerge/
[14] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/mercosur-eu-trade-deal-a-breakthrough-in-mega-regionalism/
[15] https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/comments/brics-plus-the-new-force-in-global-governance/?sphrase_id=144058236
[16] https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russias-proposed-grain-exchange-brics-countries-may-take-years-launch-2024-10-24/
[17] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/scaling-up-financing-for-environmental-projects/
[18] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/revisiting-the-case-for-a-south-african-sovereign-wealth-fund/