World
Multidisciplinary Perspective of Association of Five Major Emerging Economies
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
The BRICS, an association of five major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has a significant influence on regional affairs and is very active on the global stage.
All of them are members of the G20. While the group has received both praise and criticism from different corners of the world, BRICS is steadily working towards realizing its set goals, bilateral relations among them are also conducted on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.
In this exclusive interview for IDN, Dr Byelongo Elisée Isheloke, who is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cape Town and has scholarly researched some aspects of BRICS for the past ten years, spoke with Kester Kenn Klomegah about his latest book titled “BRICS and Economic Development: A Multidisciplinary Perspective” published in India. Here are the interview excerpts:
What are the driving reasons for writing the book on BRICS?
Interestingly, BRICS has opened the door to new academic research opportunities. As an academic, I have written four books but this is the first one devoted entirely to BRICS topic. I have also written a few articles on the BRICS aspects. I have researched on BRICS right from its creation. From day one, I believed that BRICS will shape the economic situation of the World and will have an impact on multilateralism.
The book is well received by academics in South Africa. I hope BRICS experts and researchers will continue debating on burning issues in the book. I still believe that while competition with the World Bank and IMF is inevitable, there still is a level of understanding and cooperation that must be upheld for stability and win-win engagements between the two blocs. Peace and stability in the world also depend on that.
My doctorate studies focused on BRICS interventions in the South African mining sector. I have a background in business studies and have embarked on research on industrial and economic issues for years.
As an academic, this has become another research area of specialization. It is a force to reckon with. I wrote the book or rather I co-authored it out of passion and conviction. It is also a research product of many contributors or co-authors. I thank them for working with me in this project.
What important key issues are raised or discussed in the book?
Important key issues raised include: First and foremost, BRICS is still important today but it faces a number of challenges: trade war, border conflicts, corruption, political issues, corona crisis and other socio-economic problems. Secondly, the current BRICS partnership is not sustainable, from its creation, the BRICS has changed in purpose and priorities. It will continue to change.
The third point here is the idea of BRICS Plus, or additional members to join the BRICS. That was a brilliant one. The organization should not be static. It has never been. Some European countries wanted to join but in vain, Africa is represented in the BRICS but South Africa should be supported. It is my opinion. The relationship between Russia and South Africa as a gateway to the rest of the continent is looked at. It is obvious that the people of Africa need more development than it is the case today.
The tigers suggested joining as emerging economies. I submit that the criteria to add countries based on whether they are emerging economies do not hold. Economics fluctuate and emerging economies today may struggle tomorrow.
If countries join based on merit or potential contribution, I will suggest African countries to join as observer countries first, and then when they are ready they may become effective members. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, has a lot to offer as potential so also have other African countries.
We raised the issue of the knowledge economy as a priority, IT, port economics, BRICS banking effectiveness, language policy and many other issues. BRICS needs to coordinate their collective action towards solving the coronavirus crisis with the rest of the world. A “global” solution is needed, that means a global solution with local implications.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are the important players of the emerging markets in the global economy and their innovation profiles matter for the economic growth of individual countries and the bloc.
The purpose of this book is to critically analyze and compare the international rankings in innovation outputs in terms of knowledge and technology outputs among the BRICS countries, in relation, to their economic growth in the last two years.
Using a variety of research conducted separately, this e-book discusses matters of economic substance from an African perspective. It identifies the negative scores of the BRICS as a partnership as it is faced with death and seeks to understand its rebirth, restructuring or re-engineering in the aftermath.
The study further assesses the strengths of BRICS and advises how to capitalize on these for a steady economic growth going forward. It looks at economic issues affecting the BRICS or its member countries with a focus on South Africa.
The issue of language policy in the partnership was not forgotten and possible solutions to language planning issues are proposed. On this aspect, the people of the BRICS member countries should be consulted. The book calls for a bottom-up approach in conjunction with the top-down approach that was promoted from the BRICS inception.
What critical challenges do you think still remain and what measures needed in order to realize fully the goals set by BRICS?
The BRICS must be open to others, better coordinate, better synergise their actions, democratise their institutions, to promote mineral beneficiation and foreign direct investment. More peacebuilding efforts and do more in creating a digital economy.
In addition, there will be areas where BRICS will compete, and this is healthy to any economy, but there must be more focus on what BRICS can do together to address abject poverty, growing unemployment and human rights abuses.
It is significant to note that there exist disparity and different strategic orientations of BRICS members. This disparity sometimes influences the implementation of decisions arrived at meetings. The book recommends to member countries to streamline individual economic situation in order to strengthen their cooperation.
It further encourages frequent interactions and exchange knowledge that is relevant to innovation and economic development. These are just part of the challenges and opportunities for this organisation.
What’s your assessment of BRICS contribution, particularly, to South Africa?
Starting as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) the partnership incorporated South Africa in 2010 to form the BRICS. As a partnership, first, as a political initiative it takes relatively long to transform into robust and ambitious economic challenges of the current world order. It takes time to evolve into an economic power bloc. There has been a tremendous achievement in this regard. Although some similarities in development exist, India portrays a slightly high prospect in innovation because of its information communication technology success, followed by Brazil and South Africa.
It is important to point that the size of the population is relevant to the level of development of these countries. In certain circumstances, demographics add to the challenges member countries face, especially in time of COVID-19.
One of the key factors is innovation strength in their system of higher education. South Africa needs the utilization of efficient local and global knowledge network in order to deliver the required innovation, and to sustain businesses and to boost economic development.
The major problem of South Africa is that it is not robust economically compared to its BRICS counterparts, and its economy has been performing badly since the 2008/2009 world’s economic crisis. This is why South Africa must be supported by other African countries in the context of BRICS. This is why the idea of an Africa-friendly BRICS Plus is campaigned for. BRICS have to deliver on capital-intensive infrastructure development, and the funding from the New Development Bank (BRICS) is critical in this regard.
With good policies in place, this will help the SADC region and the rest of Africa. It is great that the branch of this bank operates from Johannesburg in South Africa. This is an opportunity for major infrastructure projects to take place in Africa. All the sectors need to come together to solve problems like the COVID-19 pandemic that we are facing today. All the stakeholders, of course, have to work closely together. They need to cooperate with Europe, America and Australasia. The fact is that no one must be left behind.
In all these, can you assess the role of BRICS in Africa’s development?
BRICS has helped during the coronavirus crisis, in Africa. Now it needs to support FDI even more. Now it needs to support democracy and peacebuilding in Africa. Now it needs to prioritize exchange programs, education, trade and other viable areas of cooperation. I still hold to the fact that BRICS have to make collective efforts in coordinating with the rest of the world in addressing the coronavirus crisis.
Supporting African countries in debt relief efforts would help. A paradigm shift or change in that directions would mean Africa will have more liquidity to inject in economic development.
This interview was originally published in InDepthNews.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Despite geopolitical complexities, tensions and pressure, Russia’s military arms and weaponry sales earned approximately $15 billion at the closure of 2025, according to Kremlin report. At the regular session, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan. 30, the Commission on Military and Technical Cooperation with Foreign Countries analyzed the results of its work for 2025, and defined plans for the future.
It was noted that the system of military-technical cooperation continued to operate in difficult conditions, and with increased pressure from the Western countries to block business relations with Russia. The meeting, however, admitted that export contracts have generally performed sustainably. Russian military products were exported to more than 30 countries last year, and the amount of foreign exchange exceeded $15 billion.
Such results provide an additional opportunity to direct funds to the modernization of OPC enterprises, to the expansion of their production capacities, and to advanced research. It is also important that at these enterprises a significant volume of products is civilian products.
The Russian system of military-technical cooperation has not only demonstrated effectiveness and high resilience, but has created fundamental structures, which allow to significantly expand the “geography” of supplies of products of military purpose and, thus strengthen the position of Russia’s leader and employer advanced weapons systems – proven, tested in real combat conditions.
Thanks to the employees of the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation and Rosoboronexport, the staff of OPC enterprises for their good faith. Within the framework of the new federal project “Development of military-technical cooperation of Russia with foreign countries” for the period 2026-2028, additional measures of support are introduced. Further effective use of existing financial and other support mechanisms and instruments is extremely important because the volumes of military exports in accordance with the 2026 plan.
Special attention would be paid to the expansion of military-technological cooperation and partnerships, with 14 states already implementing or in development more than 340 such projects.
Future plans will allow to improve the characteristics of existing weapons and equipment and to develop new promising models, including those in demand on global markets, among other issues – the development of strategic areas of military-technical cooperation, and above all, with partners on the CIS and the CSTO. This is one of the priority tasks to strengthen both bilateral and multilateral relations, ensuring stability and security in Eurasia.
From January 2026, Russia chairs the CSTO, and this requires working systematically with partners, including comprehensive approaches to expanding military-technical relations. New prospects open up for deepening military-technical cooperation and with countries in other regions, including with states on the African continent. Russia has been historically strong and trusting relationships with African countries. In different years even the USSR, and then Russia supplied African countries with a significant amount of weapons and military equipment, trained specialists on their production, operation, repair, as well as military personnel.
Today, despite pressure from the West, African partners express readiness to expand relations with Russia in the military and military-technical fields. It is not only about increasing supplies of Russian military exports, but also about the purchase of other weapons, other materials and products. Russia has undertaken comprehensive maintenance of previously delivered equipment, organization of licensed production of Russian military products and some other important issues. In general, African countries are sufficient for consideration today.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Donald Trump has named Mr Kevin Warsh as the successor to Mr Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve chair, ending a prolonged odyssey that has seen unprecedented turmoil around the central bank.
The decision culminates a process that officially began last summer but started much earlier than that, with President Trump launching a criticism against the Powell-led US central bank almost since he took the job in 2018.
“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the selection.
US analysts noted that the 55-year old appear not to ripple market because of his previous experience at the apex bank as Governor, with others saying he wouldn’t always do the bidding of the American president.
If approved by the US Senate, Mr Warsh will take over the position in May, when Mr Powell’s term expires.
Despite having argued for reductions recently, “Warsh has a long hawkish history that markets have not forgotten,” one analyst told Bloomberg.
President Trump has castigated Mr Powell for not lowering interest rates more quickly. His administration also launched a criminal investigation of Powell and the Federal Reserve earlier this month, which led Mr Powell to issue an extraordinary rebuke of President Trump’s efforts to politicize the independent central bank.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Donald Trump has been leading the United States as its president since January 2025. Washington’s priority is to Make America Great Again (MAGA). Trump’s tariffs have rippled many economies from Latin America through Asian region to the continent of Africa. Trump’s Davos speech has explicitly revealed building a ‘new world order’ based on dominance rather than trust. He has also initiated whirlwind steps to annex Greenland, while further created the Board of Peace, aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and to oversee reconstruction. Trump is handling the three-year old Russia-Ukraine crisis, and other deep-seated religious and ethnic conflicts in Africa.
These emerging trends, at least in a considerable short term, are influencing BRICS which has increased its geopolitical importance, and focusing on uniting the countries in the Global East and Global South. From historical records, BRICS, described as non-western organization, and is loosing its coherence primarily due to differences in geopolitical interests and multinational alignments, and of course, a number of members face threats from the United States while there are variations of approach to the emerging worldwide perceptions.
In this conversation, deputy director of the Center for African Studies at Moscow’s National Research University High School of Economics (HSE), Vsevolod Sviridov, expresses his opinions focusing on BRICS agenda under India’s presidency, South Africa’s G20 chairmanship in 2024, and genegrally putting Africa’s development priorities within the context of emerging trends. Here are the interview excerpts:
What is the likely impact of Washington’s geopolitics and its foreign policy on BRICS?
From my perspective, the current Venezuela-U.S. confrontation, especially Washington’s tightened leverage over Venezuelan oil revenue flows and the knock-on effects for Chinese interests, will be read inside BRICS as a reminder that sovereign resources can still be constrained by financial chokepoints and sanctions politics. This does not automatically translate into BRICS taking Venezuela’s side, but it does strengthen the bloc’s long-running argument for more resilient South-South trade settlement, diversified energy chains, and financing instruments that reduce exposure to coercive measures, because many African and other developing economies face similar vulnerabilities around commodities, shipping, insurance, and correspondent banking. At the same time, BRICS’ expansion makes consensus harder: several members maintain significant ties with the U.S., so the most likely impact is a technocratic push rather than a loud political campaign.
And highlighting, specifically, the position of BRICS members (South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt, as well as its partnering African States (Nigeria and Uganda)?
Venezuela crisis urges African members to demand that BRICS deliver usable financial and trade tools. For South Africa, Ethiopia, and Egypt, the Venezuela case is more about the precedent: how quickly external pressure can reshape a country’s fiscal room, debt dynamics, and even investor perceptions when energy revenues and sanctions compliance collide. South Africa will likely argue that BRICS should prioritize investment, industrialization, and trade facilitation. Ethiopia and Egypt, both debt-sensitive and searching for FDI, will be especially attentive to anything that helps de-risk financing, while avoiding steps that could trigger secondary-sanctions anxieties or scare off diversified investors.
Would the latest geopolitical developments ultimately shape the agenda for BRICS 2026 under India’s presidency?
India’s 2026 chairmanship is already framed around “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” and Venezuela’s shock (paired with broader sanction/market-volatility lessons) will likely sharpen the resilience part. From an African perspective, that is an opportunity: South Africa, Ethiopia, and Egypt can press India to translate the theme into deliverables that matter on the ground: food and fertilizer stability, affordable energy access, infrastructure funding. India, in turn, has incentives to keep BRICS focused on economic problem-solving rather than becoming hostage to any single flashpoint. So the Venezuela episode may function as a cautionary case study that accelerates practical cooperation where African members have the most to gain. And I would add: the BRICS agenda will become increasingly Africa-centered simply because Africa’s weight globally is rising, and recent summit discussions have repeatedly highlighted African participation as a core Global South vector. South Africa’s G20 chairmanship last year explicitly framed around putting Africa’s development priorities high on the agenda, further proves this point.
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