The BRICS Summit was conducted yearly among the five member countries. The five-member countries of the BRICS Summit are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Each country will take responsibility to conduct a BRICS Summit for a year. The BRICS 2020 venue was planned in Russia and BRICS 2021 venue was planned in India. But, due to the Covid pandemic, the 12th BRICS summit and 13th BRICS Summit are conducted online. The theme of conducting BRICS Summit 2021 is BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus. The Heads of the government of all five member countries will take part in the BRICS Summit. The 12th BRICS Summit was hosted by Russia and the 13th BRICS Summit was hosted by India. The government of India created an agenda for the BRICS 2021 and launched it on the website. This entire article will provide the highlights of the BRICS summit, major decisions taken in the BRICS summit, the history behind organizing the BRICS summit are given in Detail. 

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Leaders Participated in 13th BRICS Summit 

• Jair Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil represented Brazil

• Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia represented Russia

• Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India represented India and also hosted the BRICS 2021

• Xi Jinping, the President of China represented China 

• Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa represented South Africa.  

History Behind Creating BRICS 

The term ‘BRIC’ was coined by Jim O'Neill, who was the chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In September 2006, the foreign ministers of all four countries met together in New York City and made a general debate at the UN assembly. After that, the four G20 countries were combined together and formed the BRIC summit. They hosted the first BRIC summit on 16th June 2009 at Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia. The leaders from all four countries are taking part in the summit. They have mainly discussed the global economic situation and reforming the financial institutions of all four countries. They are also discussed to have better cooperation between four countries for future development. 

On 24th December 2010, South Africa officially became part of the BRIC and created the BRICS forum.  South Africa has joined the forum at the request of China. After that, the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma took part in the BRICS Summit 2011, which was organized at Sanya city in China.  All the countries came up with some initial capital for creating the BRICS forum. These countries have utilized this capital to maintain the GDP of their nation.

Highlights of BRICS Summit 2020 

The last BRICS summit was organized by Russia through online mode. Due to the global pandemic, the date of the BRICS summit was postponed from 21 - 23 July 2020 and organized on 17th November 2020. India raised the biggest problem of the world in the BRICS forum, which is the problem facing due to terrorism. Also, India received the support of Russia to control terrorism in India and to follow the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy. They also discussed controlling measures of Covid 19 and also discussed sharing the Covid vaccine. This is very important because the population from BRICS countries contributes about 42% of the global economy. 

During the BRICS Summit 2020, India introduced a self-reliant campaign, Atma Nirbhar Bharat among the BRICS partners. The government of India introduced this campaign to act as a multiplier for the global economy for facing the post-Covid 19 situations. Through this campaign, India has delivered essential medicines for more than 150 countries.

India and China in BRICS Summit

After the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, India and China are facing each other in the BRICS summit and discussed the bilateral talks and border standoff between the two counties. India and China exchanged their ideas on facing several issues and provided many opportunities to India. 

Highlights of BRICS Summit 2021 

The latest BRICS summit was hosted by India. The theme of the recent BRICS summit 2021 was ‘BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation, and consensus’. India has chosen this theme and launched the website for the BRICS 2021 summit on 01st January 2021.

Usually, the BRICS countries will discuss the common interests of all five countries.  This time, India created some discussion about the contribution of BRICS nations in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) review. Also, India discussed international coordination to fight against the Covid 19 global crisis. India was also requested for intra-BRICS cooperation among member countries. 

During the BRICS 2021, India has raised a proposal for an uninterrupted supply of vaccines through the World Trade Organization. BRICS nations are also discussing protecting traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. BRICS nations are also discussing regional security issues and the development of global political space for peace, security, and prosperity.

During the BRICS Summit 2021, India priorities the reforms of the Multilateral System and counter-terrorism cooperation. BRICS nations also worked on enhancing the economic growth sectors and for mutual cooperation like energy, finance & banking, agriculture, infrastructure, trade, small and medium enterprises. 

BRICS Nation Vision On Economic Growth For 2020 - 2025:

• Operationalization of the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform.

• Cooperation on Disaster Resilience.

• Innovation Cooperation.

• Digital Health and Traditional Medicine.

The BRICS nations are also working on enhancing and enriching the quality of the people, by conducting the academic, cultural, sports, youth business through regular exchanges. People from parliamentarians also support and encourage young scientists from BRICS nations. 

India was a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), but still, India is seeking support from the BRICS colleagues for availing security and UNSC reforms to tackle terrorism. In BRICS summit 2020, Under Russia’s chairmanship, BRICS released a document policy for counter-terrorism. During the BRICS summit 2021, India attempted to strengthen the document. 

India and China Relationship in BRICS 

In recent days, India and China had many border clashes. All the BRICS nations are supporting both countries to have a peaceful Sino-India relationship. But, it remains unknown whether China will take part in the BRICS summit 2021, hosted in India. Both India and China are getting the opportunity to have a better relationship through BRICS and to discuss their thoughts, but both countries are staying ahead. The BRICS nations cannot provide military and security for both nations. So, India and China are trying to get a peaceful solution through the BRICS summit. 

This article provided the history behind the creation of the BRICS summit, the importance of the BRICS form, and important highlights of the BRICS summit 2020 and the BRICS summit 2021.  BRICS countries are mainly showing their interest in increasing financial and economic cooperation among the member countries, effective industrial interaction, and practical collaboration in developing. They are also working on implementing new joint energy, telecommunications, and high-tech projects, among others.