The 15th BRICS summit  in Johannesburg South Africa saw a significant decision to expand the membership of the grouping that held its founding summit in 2009 in Yekaterinburg in Russia. For the first time since BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries accepted South Africa as a full member in 2010, expanding the forum to BRICS, consensus has been reached to invite six new countries as full members. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE-have been invited as full members with effect from 1st January 2024.  

Several other countries are being considered as dialogue partners- Prime Minister Modi said.

Is this expansion-which was led by China and backed by Russia and South Africa initially, good for India? What kind of a power shift does BRICS 2.0 signify? What is the geopolitical impact of groupings  like SCO, BRICS today ? 

On Episode 13 of the foreign policy podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, Independent Journalist and Host Smita Sharma spoke to former Deputy National Security Advisor and retired career diplomat Pankaj Saran. 1982 batch IFS , Pankaj Saran has as served as India’s ambassador to Russia and High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Currently he is the Convenor of Nat Strat- a Delhi-based independent Centre for Research on Strategic and Security Issues.