By Yaroslav Lissovolik
Almost 10 years ago China launched an initiative that was to transform the global economic landscape and render the paradigm of economic multipolarity an integral part of the global agenda. In March 2017 the BRICS+ initiative was announced by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who declared: “we will widen the circle of friends of the BRICS and turn it into the most influential platform for South-South cooperation in the world”. Since then the BRICS+ initiative had its ups and downs, but after almost a decade it has clearly transformed the BRICS bloc, its engagement with the outside world and the global landscape of economic alliances.
The 2017 BRICS summit chaired by China featured the BRICS+ outreach exercise that for the first time involved the invitation of representatives from emerging markets from across the global economy – Mexico from Latin America, Tajikistan from Central Asia, Thailand from Southeast Asia, as well as Guinea and Egypt from Africa. This outreach format was then developed further by South Africa in 2018, with emerging market economies invited to participate in the BRICS+ format chairing key regional and global forums and organizations. In particular, Turkey was invited as the chair in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Jamaica as the chair in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), while Argentina was invited as the chair of the G20 platform. In effect, this approach took BRICS+ to the level of engaging not only individual national economies, but also international organizations and regional economic blocs.
Despite the initial success of the BRICS+ initiative, in 2019-2021 it was discontinued. It came back to life in 2022 with the return of the BRICS presidency to China – this time the scale of the BRICS+ outreach format undertaken by China delivered such a strong impulse to BRICS development that it paved the way to BRICS/BRICS+ expansion for several years to come. The BRICS+ format itself after China’s chairmanship in 2022 continued and gained further traction for the next three years, making this format a key regular feature of BRICS summit meetings.
Apart from the expansion in the BRICS core that now includes new members such as Egypt, the UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran, there was also the creation of the BRICS partnership belt that includes 10 emerging market economies from across the Global South. In 2025 Brazil that chaired the BRICS bloc further expanded the format of the outreach meetings to include regional/multilateral development banks, regional integration blocs (ASEAN) as well as the head of a global organization such as the WTO, rendering the BRICS+ format more focused on pragmatic economic cooperation.
The significance of the BRICS+ initiative is not solely about the bloc’s expansion and outreach to the global community. It is also about the new gateways to global economic development and to higher economic growth. With stronger links between China and its BRICS partners with the rest of the developing world, there is a wider array of channels through which growth impulses from some of the largest economies of the Global South can reach the majority of the developing economies. In rendering such impulses to growth stronger and more diverse, the creation of a platform for regional integration arrangements (such as Mercosur, ASEAN) within the BRICS+ format can be pursued as a priority track in the forthcoming BRICS+ outreach exercises.
In this vein, the BRICS+ initiative is focused on advancing a new model of economic cooperation in the global economy that is inclusive and hence more sustainable. It is also an effort to develop a new paradigm for South-South economic cooperation that can effectively support the modernization efforts of developing economies. The rising trade and investment among developing economies has been a key trend over the course of 2025 and the BRICS+ format may serve to provide further momentum to these crucial paradigm shifts in the world economy. Another important angle with respect to the future BRICS+ format is of course the mounting debate on the possibility of BRICS institutionalization and the creation of the bloc’s headquarters – something that could introduce greater continuity as well as consistency into the iterative BRICS+ outreach efforts.
In the end, the entire possibility set of BRICS+ formats is far from being exhausted and the future BRICS summits may reveal new innovations and pathways to boosting South-South economic cooperation. There is certainly further scope for more global international organizations to be invited to participate in the BRICS+ outreach activities as well as regional integration blocs and their development institutions. There could also be scope perhaps to invite leading corporates from across the developing world to conclude strategic alliances or to present cutting-edge innovations and new business models at the BRICS+ summit meetings. In effect, the BRICS+ becomes a laboratory for building the future trajectories of BRICS development and in this lasting legacy of advancing South-South economic cooperation China played the pivotal role of launching the first globalized outreach effort.
Yaroslav Lissovolik is a member of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). Senior member of the Advisory Council at the Center for Russia-China Strategic Cooperation of the CITIC Foundation on reform and development. In 2023 he founded BRICS+ Analytics to conduct in-depth research on the future trajectories of BRICS+ development.
The Pivot Magazine of the Institute of Strategic Studies of Islamabad (ISSI)
