The 17th BRICS Summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro on 6 and 7 July 2025

RIO DE JANEIRO - The 17th BRICS Summit will be held in Rio de Janeiro on 6 and 7 July 2025, bringing together representatives from around 20 countries, including BRICS members, partner states and invited countries. The Moscow delegation will be led by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the summit via video call. This year's summit will be held under the theme "Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance". The agenda is expected to focus on deepening cooperation in health, trade and investment, as well as addressing key issues such as security, climate change and artificial intelligence governance.

Origin and objectives
The co-founders of the organisation were Brazil, Russia, India and China. The acronym BRIC was derived from the English names of the member countries of the association. After South Africa joined in 2011, the association was renamed BRICS. At its first summit in Ekaterinburg in June 2009, its goal was defined as "the development of consistent, active, pragmatic and open dialogue and cooperation among countries". Later, BRICS declared that it is neither a bloc nor an antagonist of any third parties.

BRICS enlargement
At a meeting of the quintet's foreign ministers in May 2022, which was held via video call, China came up with the idea of initiating the BRICS expansion process to increase its membership and influence in the world. By August 2023, some 20 countries had applied to join the organisation. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, all BRICS members were in favour of admitting like-minded countries: countries "that believe in multipolarity and in the need for more democratic and fair international relations".

At the 15th Summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 22-24 August 2023, it was announced that six countries - Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - would join the organisation. However, Argentina changed its mind in December 2023 (after President Javier Milei came to power). Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, retained its status as an invited country.

Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates became full members of BRICS on 1 January 2024, while Indonesia joined the association on 6 January 2025, bringing the total number of members to ten. The expanded group was informally referred to as BRICS Plus.

At the 16th BRICS Summit held in Kazan in October 2024, a new format of participation - the BRICS Partnership - was introduced as a mandatory step before full membership. On 1 January 2025, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan gained BRICS partner status, followed by Nigeria on 17 January and Vietnam on 14 June.

Currently, some 30 countries have applied to join, including those that have already been granted partner country status. The authorities of these countries note that membership of the BRICS will enable them to deal more effectively with various issues on the world stage and to protect their national interests.

Summits and ministerial meetings
BRICS does not have a seat or a charter. It is essentially an informal club or platform for cooperation. The rotating presidency is held by the host country of the summit. Since 2013, the chair country has invited countries that are geographically and geopolitically close to it to participate in the summits. Regular meetings are held at the level of foreign, finance, health, education, science and agriculture ministers and secretaries of security councils.

Since 2015, BRICS civic, parliamentary and youth forums and media summits have been held. Currently, there are more than 20 negotiating platforms within BRICS, addressing areas such as energy efficiency, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, sustainable development and the work of international financial institutions.

Since the first BRICS event in June 2009 in Ekaterinburg, Russia has chaired the association three more times and hosted several meetings of BRICS participants. In July 2015, Russia hosted the 7th BRICS Summit in Ufa. In November 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it hosted the 12th summit via video call with cameras placed at the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow.

The previous 16th Summit was held in Kazan from 22 to 24 October 2024. It brought together delegations from 36 countries, 24 heads of state and government, and representatives of six international organizations, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The event culminated in the adoption of the Kazan Declaration, in which the BRICS leaders expressed support for comprehensive UN reform, advocated reform of the Bretton Woods institutions, and agreed to work towards an independent cross-border settlement.

TASS/gnews.cz-jav