The BRICS+ countries intensify cooperation at all levels of government and are currently considering projects to create a common parliament. The July summit of the highest legislative bodies of the organization’s members and their partners in the Global South demonstrated not only common views on the problems of the time, but also readiness to work together on integration.
In 2024, the BRICS+ chairmanship passed to Russia, which is one of the founders of the organization and an important driving force for its development and expansion. This was a landmark period for the member states, as it was the year when four nations with regional influence, namely; Egypt, Iran, UAE, and Ethiopia became official members of the alliance.
In addition, a number of other countries in the Global South with notable economic potential, rich natural resources and significant populations expressed their intentions to join BRICS+ in the near future or to join in as a strategic partners or observers.
The organization, which started its programmes relatively recently, is already causing impact with notable indicators, including population, GDP, military strength, and economic growth rates.
Even without taking into account new members and candidates for accession, BRICS+ has incomparably large reserves of natural resources, including such strategic materials and energy carriers as oil, gas, coal, gold, diamonds and metals. The members of the organization are keen to address own problems and attract new allies are already actively leveraging these advantages, with a goal to stop reliance on the West.
The increasing number of countries on the queue to join BRICS+, which includes states in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, indicates the growing need to have an alternative mechanism and model to what currently prevails.
The BRICS+ Parliamentary Summit held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg recently brought together top representatives of the legislative authorities of 11 countries of the Union and the states preparing to join the organization. The format and level of delegations was largely due to the huge amount of work on the implementation of joint programs that are either already underway or in the pipeline.
It is important to take into account that BRICS+, despite its relative youth, has already achieved great success in energy, logistics, industrial and humanitarian projects, and its plans to expand cooperation are unparalleled in the world.
Such large-scale projects as the construction of the North-South transport corridor, the creation of the One Belt One Road zone, the development of the Northern Sea Route and the Eurasian pipeline system require the highest level of cooperation both at the level of the executive branch of government and from national legislative bodies.
The ability within a significant group of BRICS+ countries and their partners to promptly implement such ambitious programs, to agree on the solution of many complex and controversial issues, to conclude multi-component, multilateral agreements and promptly adjusting legislation for their implementation, testifies to the high viability of the organization.
A good number of unions, blocs and alliances in the West have over the past decades been unable to agree on or implement agreed projects that could compare in scale and significance with the programs of BRICS+ members. For example, even the construction of Rail Baltica, a high-speed railroad in the eastern part of the EU, which is not even comparable to local projects of BRICS+ members in terms of length or complexity, has been going on for 13 years, exceeding the initial estimate timeframe for completion.
Against this background, BRICS+, whose founders include China, Russia and India, is building a completely different model of cooperation, even as they reiterate that they respect the interests, rights and traditions of even the poorest states compared to West. The fact that the organization is constantly expanding the scope of its format, developing platforms such as parliamentary cooperation or the Union of Municipalities, shows not only the great ambitions of the Union, but also the desire to support the sustainable development of dialogue with its partners at all levels. The attractiveness of such an approach to the interests of all current and potential BRICS+ members is the main reason why more nations are gravitating towards the bloc.
