External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, when asked about the need for BRICS while a grouping like G20 already existed, responded that if the G7 can exist when there is the G20, there is no reason why BRICS cannot.
Mr Jaishankar said this during a conversation with Ambassador Jean-David Levitte at Geneva Centre for Security Policy, a think tank.
BRICS was founded as an intergovernmental organisation by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, with South Africa joining in later. In January this year, five new countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Ethiopia – joined the bloc.
“Why the club? Because there was another club. It was called the G7 and you will not let anybody else into that club. So, we go and form our own club,” the foreign minister said.
“I’m still struck by how insecure the (Global) North is when you speak about the BRICS. Somehow, something seems to get under people’s skin,” he said.
“Here’s an observation. There is a G20, did the G7 disband? Has it stopped meeting? No, it still continues. So, the G20 exists, but the G7 still exists. Then, why can’t the G20 be there and the BRICS also exist?” he said further.
Mr Jaishankar also talked about the Global South. “The countries of the Global South, most of them are decolonised countries. Most of them are developing countries,” he explained. He termed it as “an intuitive gathering of countries who actually know why they are in that room and they have a feel for each other,” he said.
The foreign minister is currently on the third and final leg of his three-nation tour. He started off in Saudi Arabia for the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council Ministerial Meeting and went on to visit Germany.
He held wide-ranging talks with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, and called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
