World leaders flock to Kazan for BRICS summit - does it mean "goodbye" to unipolar system?

Kazan is hosting a large-scale and most representative international forum in 2024 - the BRICS summit. It will last 3 days and will be attended by leaders of 22 countries, including Russia's closest neighbors, as well as partners in the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS.

Since January 1, Russia has been chairing BRICS. The agenda includes key issues in world politics and economics, as well as the further expansion of BRICS, which another 40 countries are interested in joining.

The leaders of China, India, South Africa and other countries have already arrived in Russia for the summit. The film crew of "First Information" is also watching everything that is happening in Kazan these days.

The first day of the BRICS summit in Kazan started with the arrival of state leaders, the first bilateral negotiations and a lot of work by the press. TV channels from all over the world - journalists from 59 countries applied to participate. The word "south" is often heard here when describing the union.

Today BRICS is 10 states. Egypt, Iran, the Emirates, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia have joined the starting lineup by abbreviation (Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa). These countries are home to 44% of the world's population. It is logical that with the general rules of the game for the union, the situation will change immediately for more than 3.5 billion people.

Ankit Shans, political scientist (India):

"The question now is how BRICS will accept new members. The most reasonable thing is for the founding country to vouch for a potential candidate and the decision is made collectively. Belarus may well follow this path".

Who has already arrived for the summit? The leaders of China, India, South Africa, and Ethiopia were already greeted in Tatarstan.

In addition, the President of Egypt, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the Vice President of Venezuela arrived, and the day before, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil arrived in Kazan. In the closed zones for the leaders, final preparations are underway. Belarus is also waiting. The main hall will host the main session of the XVI BRICS summit in different formats: over 2 days in "narrow", "wide", "outreach" / "BRICS plus".

Thembisa Fakude, participant of the BRICS summit (South Africa):

"African countries are now much more interested in the economy than in politics. We need to do business, we need to develop. We know that Belarus adheres to the same positions. And you are allies of Russia. This is a strong partner."

What BRICS has already achieved: gradually moving away from the dollar monopoly. Currently, the share of settlements in this currency in servicing trade exchanges within BRICS does not exceed 30%. The idea of common food reserves is being implemented. A bank created by the union is operating. All this makes it possible not only to bypass, but also to forget the word "sanctions" as an instrument of political pressure.

Elena Ponomareva, political scientist, specialist in color revolutions, professor at MGIMO:

"Look, the European Union and NATO, as the leader of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik aptly put it, are organizations for finding servants, but BRICS, the SCO, and the CIS are platforms for finding partners. Therefore, this association, from my point of view, is an attractive platform for all those who seek to preserve and even for some of them to gain sovereignty, and for those who seek freedom as a real entity."

Experts also call this the answer of the global South to the global West: the unipolar system is a thing of the past. Leaders of more than 20 countries will fly to Russia, which does not "fight" well with the West's propaganda about the isolation of official Moscow. By the way, one of the guests of the summit is UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who refused to accept a similar invitation from Ukraine to the first global peace summit in Switzerland. Kazan is hosting one of the main political events of 2024.