BRICS Leaders Meet at Third Summit in China

This past week, the leaders of the five BRICS nations met in Sanya, China for their annual summit to discuss their role as the world shifts.  This marked the first year that South Africa took part in the summit, changing the acronym from BRIC to BRICS.  The five leaders, Hu Jintao of China, Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Manmohan Singh of India, and Jacob Zuma of South Africa, spoke out largely against the NATO airstrikes on Libya.  They call for a peaceful resolution and an end to the force being used by Western powers.  Brazil, Russia, India and China all abstained from the UN vote this March regarding the authorization of a no-fly-zone over Libya.  In addition, the BRICS nations call for more representation in such international organizations as the UN and World Bank in order to make these institutions "more representative and effective."  These emerging states, which represent 40% of the world's population and 20% of its GDP, ultimately wish to use their collective political power to contribute to global governance.  Despite their unity, however, issues such as the valuation of currency, which has been a hot topic between Brazil and China, were largely ignored.  

Mark Zajac