BRICS playing key role amid tensions: Experts

The BRICS mechanism is more relevant in the current geopolitical environment as a platform to offer alternative solutions, South African scholars say.

Ari Sitas, an emeritus professor at the University of Cape Town, said the rise in unilateralism, protectionism and conflicts in various parts of the world has given BRICS a more important role to play.

"BRICS is relevant more than it started because it has to provide a counterweight to random decisions that are taken based on power in the world now. It owes the developing world a protective umbrella from the madness that is happening to the rest of the world," said Sitas.

"BRICS can provide (a) counterpoint to the dynamics in the world's systems now, and it should continue to be tolerant between countries," said Sitas, who is also former chairperson of the South African BRICS Think Tank.

He added that BRICS is not only reshaping economics and redefining who produces knowledge and scientific research worldwide, but also helping to advocate for peace.

Since its inception, some media outlets said it would "collapse" in the same year while others said its formation was a bad idea, but it is thriving and expanding with new members, he said.

Cecil Masoka, director for Europe and the Gulf States at South Africa's Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, said BRICS has used bilateral relations to advance its agenda. He said BRICS has made achievements in many areas including science, technology and innovation, which are evident if one deeply examines the different work streams.

Masoka said South Africa does not have the financial muscle to build global large-scale research infrastructure for science, technology and innovation like China and Russia, but BRICS cooperation has helped bridge that gap.

"The bilateral relations among BRICS members have allowed us to send our students to access these research infrastructures and undertake research in cutting-edge technologies with people from different countries," said Masoka.

He explained that when those South African students return to the country from studying in BRICS countries such as China, they make productive contributions to the country. Masoka said the trade and industry working group has resulted in an increase in exports of South African goods to the markets of other BRICS members such as China.

South-South solidarity

Rasigan Maharajh, chief director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at South Africa's Tshwane University of Technology, said BRICS has strengthened South-South solidarity, reaching back to the 1955 Bandung Conference. He explained that BRICS and subsequently BRICS+ have become a major platform for deliberating the political, social, economic, and ecological dimensions of global transformation.

The expansion of improved productive capacities, capabilities, and competencies is undoubtedly necessary to redress material inequalities in the quality of life, said Maharajh.

He said BRICS should invest in science and technology development, unlike NATO, which recently committed to raising member states' military expenditure to 5 percent of the gross domestic product.

BRICS has established institutions such as the Contingent Reserve Arrangement and the New Development Bank, which have given South Africa loans to address water scarcity through a cross-border project with neighboring Lesotho.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.