The Aryavarth Express
Moscow: The combined share of GDP of countries of the BRIC grouping that includes India exceeds USD 60 trillion, which is more than the corresponding figure for the countries of the G7, and it continues to grow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the BRICS Business Forum in Moscow on Friday.
State media TASS cited Putin as saying that BRICS plays a significant role in the global economy not only today and that it is quite obvious that this role will increase in the future as well.
He said that the countries that are part of the BRICS are in fact the drivers of global economic growth. And it is in the BRICS grouping that the main increase in global GDP will be generated in the foreseeable future, the Russian President said.
Putin’s remarks come ahead of the summit of BRICS scheduled to be held in Kazan on October 22-24.
According to the TASS report, Putin said that in 1992 the share of the Group of Seven countries was 45.5 percent, while that of BRICS countries accounted for 16.7 percent of global GDP.
In 2023, Putin said BRICS accounted for 37.4 percent and the G7 29.3 percent. “The gap is widening and it will widen; this is inevitable,” Putin said in his address.
Putin stressed that BRICS plays a significant role in the global economy, not only today.
The Russian leader stressed that the joint work of BRICS to accelerate socio-economic growth and ensure sustainable development brings tangible results and actually contributes to improving the well-being and quality of life of ordinary citizens of countries.
“In recent decades, over 40 percent of growth in global GDP—the entire global economic dynamics—came from the BRICS countries. Based on the results of the current year, the average rate of economic growth in BRICS is projected at 4 percent. This is higher than both the rates in the G7 countries—there it is only 1.7 percent—and the global rates. The global rates will be 3.2 percent,” Putin said, as cited by TASS.
He also recalled that BRICS accounts for about a quarter of global goods exports, while companies from the association’s countries dominate many key markets, including energy resources, metals, and food—that is, markets for those goods without which sustainable economic development is impossible.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia from October 22–23 to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, being held in Kazan, under the chairmanship of Russia.
The Prime Minister is visiting Russia at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
BRIC, as a formal grouping, started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India, and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The 1st BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.
South Africa was added at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in 2010. BRICS has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates in 2024.
So, a total of 15 BRICS summits have taken place.
India took over the BRICS Chairship from Russia in January 2021 and held it until 31 December 2021. India’s BRICS Chairship in 2021 coincided with the 15th anniversary of BRICS.
