MKI Perspective – Written by Péter Goreczky, Péter Pál Kránitz, Sándor Seremet & Zsolt Trembeczki
Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security – this is the motto of this year’s Russian Presidency of BRICS. Among the priorities of the presidency are the integration of new member states, deepening cooperation with candidate states and developing countries, institutional development of BRICS, and strengthening cooperation in the fight against terrorism, corruption, money laundering, and drug trafficking. One of the key issues for the presidency was the enlargement of BRICS – with some 30 countries, including Turkey and Azerbaijan, having indicated their intention to join the formation – but following opposition from Russia and India, the Kazan summit finally laid the foundations for a looser framework for cooperation rather than enlargement. The final declaration of the summit indicates that the political cohesion of the BRICS had not been significantly improved, but that some steps had been taken to strengthen economic cooperation between member states.