BRICS summit

At the end of the summit, the BRICS bloc - comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - issued a warning to the West and Israel against possible military action over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

The bloc's declaration warned of "disastrous consequences" if the Iran conflict were allowed to escalate. It also backed UN efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis through "peaceful means."

"We agreed that a lasting solution in Syria and Iran can only be found through dialogue," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a closing statement of the one-day BRICS summit.

The BRICS nations also announced long-term plans to launch a BRICS development bank. According to the declaration, the BRICS finance ministers will evaluate the proposal and it will be discussed again at the bloc's next summit in South Africa in 2013.

The alliance also agreed to work together to play a greater role in world affairs.

A counterbalancing force

Together, BRICS nations represent nearly half of the world's population. Around 3 billion people live in the countries that make up the BRICS. Yet the GDP of these countries put together only makes up 22 percent of the global total.

The fourth BRICS summit started on Wednesday evening in the Indian capital of New Delhi. Experts refer to BRICS as a group of countries with great potential. Nevertheless, the objectives behind the formation of the group in 2008 have not been reached, according to Alexander Rahr of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

"They see the financial crisis is weakening the West. They see that no one can or should try to create a counterbalance to the West - America and the European Union are simply too strong for them to compete," Rahr told DW. "Nonetheless, the BRICS countries have decided to put their power together to try to create something parallel so they can have at least some influence in the makeup of the world order."

Yet finding common ground is not easy for its members. "The organization is not uniform - not all members want to turn the BRICS into a political organization. South Africa and Brazil mainly see the group as a platform to strengthen their trade relations for their raw materials," Rahr said.

Common ground

Only three members - Brazil, South Africa and India - are democratic countries. But despite their difference in systems, the five member states will take the opportunity of this year's summit to emphasize their similarities. Topics of discussion will be poverty reduction, avoidance of food crises, and improvement of infrastructure. They will also discuss the improvement of the transfer of technology and science and possible common ground on fighting climate change. Joint political institutions could also help them grow closer together, according to Oliver Stuenkel, professor for international relations in Sao Paulo.

"The creation of a joint bank has resulted out of a need to create a common institutional framework. Having an organization without any institutional framework makes the organization somewhat unpredictable, as it means there are no obligations for the members, no matter how often the group meets," Stuenkel said.

A framework would also make future cooperation easier.

"Economic cooperation is the topic over which there is the most consensus. It is the foundation of BRICS. Yet trade between Brazil and India is so low that it is hardly worth mentioning - just like trade between Brazil and Russia and Russia and South Africa."

Trade platform

Experts like Stuenkel see growth in trade between BRICS countries as a big success and a result of the summits; in 2011, the volume of trade increased by 28 percent to 230 billion euros (around 300 billion US dollars) according to the latest figures provided by the Indian Foreign Ministry.

"The unipolar world order of the 1990s, which was seen as something good and necessary for the protection of the planet, is no longer looked upon in the same way as before. This has to do with China's rise and Russia's return," Rahr pointed out, adding that in today's multipolar system, other structures are needed to represent more views.

Author: Priya Esselborn / ss
Editor: Gregg Benzow