Joint website of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the BRICS member States
Brazil
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva
The President of Brazil
Russia
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
India
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister of India
Сhina
Xi Jinping
President of the People's Republic of China
South Africa
Cyril Ramaphosa
The President of South Africa
Egypt
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
President of Egypt
Ethiopia
Abiy Ahmed Ali
Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Iran
Massoud Pezeshkian
The President of Iran
UAE
Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan
President of the UAE
Indonesia
Prabowo Subianto
President of Indonesia
What is BRICS?
BRICS is an intergovernmental organization consisting of ten countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. It is considered to be a counterpart and alternative to the G7 bloc of the world's largest economies and combined represent nearly half of the world's population. The term 'BRIC' was originally identified to highlight investment opportunities. The multipolar grouping evolved diplomatically, geopolitically and geoeconomically, with their governments meeting annually at formal summits and coordinating multilateral policies since the founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the first leaders summit in Russia in 2009 under the name BRIC. Relations among BRICS are conducted mainly based on non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit. In April 2010, South Africa attended the 2nd BRIC summit, making its first appearance as a guest. The nation was added as a member and the organization was officially renamed BRICS in September 2010. The 3rd BRICS summit in 2011 was the first held with all five titular countries in attendance as members. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates attended their first summit as member states at the 2024 summit in Russia. Indonesia officially joined as a member state in early 2025, becoming the first Southeast Asian member. The acronym BRICS+ has been informally used to reflect new membership. Some in the West consider BRICS institutions an alternative to institutions such as those led by nations of the G7 bloc, which are among the world's leading economies. Others describe the grouping as an incoherent joining of countries around increasing anti-Western and anti-American objectives. Together BRICS has implemented competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication and the BRICS basket reserve currency. In its first 15 years BRICS has established almost 60 intra-group institutions, and think tanks to dialogues, covering agenda in 34 subjects.
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