Democratization of Multipolar World Order Lures BRICS Hopefuls, Expert Emphasizes

"The attraction of BRICS is another very complicated matter. I mean, imagine it being in a forum that firstly works on consensus. Secondly, it promotes collaboration, cooperation and peace, and promotes fairness in global governance, promotes equity, [and] in fact, the democratization of the multilateral system. You're essentially looking at something organic, and it's very, very organic," he said, sharing his expectations of the upcoming summit.

"It's actually a very important one because many people, the world over there, are going to quite simply looking forward to what pans out next week. And you will recall that there were some many things, many areas of discussion that need resolution.[...] There will be an announcement of an admission this year, when or if there's an admission. Would it be just a few, or will it be three? Will it be all 23? Will it be half of that, or will it be deferred to the following BRICS summit in Russia next year? So that's a very, very big one," the expert told Sputnik Africa.

"It's big because imagine if what you already have is a BRICS bloc that is quite significant in terms of its share of the global economy. One, its share of the global population, its share as a market. Now, if you expand it even more, an even bigger population with an even bigger might could drive a bigger potential pool of resources, even more so for, the function of the new development bank and its objectives," Kubayi elaborated.

"But you also have a greater cooperation, potential cooperation and collaboration in the political spin political sphere right now. For instance, imagine you have Saudi Arabia and Iran, you have Argentina, you have Indonesia, you have Algeria, Egypt, [countries] from Africa, among others. You already have quite a formidable group for potential influence for a particular agenda or another. So that's a very big thing, and it's particularly important," the researcher highlighted.

"The bloc says let's do things differently. Everyone has got their own local material conditions, the conditions of each country differ quite significantly in many cases. So BRICS is able to say that everybody is welcome. Everybody has their own needs. And all of these needs will be accommodated and will promote discussion," the expert shared his opinion with the reporters.

"Africa wants to develop regional value chains. There are no strong regional value chains that can buffer against potential global shocks in the supply chain, such as [Africa] experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It had money to buy equipment and money to buy vaccines, but none were available. [...] It really was quite unfortunate and there's a massive opportunity for everybody within and around the bloc to create those connectivities [sic] to enable investment in these global value chains," the researcher elaborated.

"When these regional value chains endure, what value chains that can potentially withstand such global shocks, particularly for those countries that would be in a desperate situation should the next pandemic hit. So that's what the attraction is, is immense. It's really, really big. I mean, considering just this shift alone, from the current system where you have essentially the domination by not just one or two or three of you, if you have a few countries literally, telling everybody how to do things, what to do when you do or who to be friends with the attraction is, is that great. Precisely because the bloc says, let's do things differently. Everyone has got their own local material conditions, even with that," he underlined.

"There are also challenges, potential challenge, because the bigger the number, the more complex the management of the dynamics within the bloc," he asserted.

"Particularly given that, this is a bloc that works on consensus, how easy will it be to maintain that when you have so many members that all of them may have some different and varied interests? And different needs, different geographic realities, social realities, political realities and so on. [...] So you do have both challenges in terms of the internal workings of the BRICS itself, inter-BRICS cooperation and collaboration and the internal protocols. But the potential spinoffs, however, economic benefits, would be quite, quite significant, I think," he said.

"What key difference between the NDB and many others? One: The turnaround time is between the application for financing and the actual outcomes of the approval process for financing, about three months or so. So an application can go in this month and money can be financed, can be disbursed three months later. Whereas others can take maybe 6 months to a year, others maybe even two years. So, and the conditionalities are also a lot better, a lot simpler, a lot easier. [...] So the NDB is a phenomenal instrument of the BRICS bloc because of the realization of its reform and development agenda," the expert elaborated.

"When is it? Could be a while. Yeah, it could be sooner. It depends on how, for instance, the expansion of BRICS plays out, how quickly it's able to mobilize additional resources, how it's able to mobilize additional capital from […] possibly new members joining the bank. It depends. I mean, my bet is… don't know would be that in five years, the NDB would be a much more formidable institution than it currently is now," the expert shared his assumptions.

"You're talking about countries from various regions. You've got now Asia, countries from Asia, Eurasia, Africa, South America. These are different continents coming together to say that, look, this is a common agenda that we carry and this is how we would like to take care of them and promote them and so on. That's already a big deal. [...] And so the potential for the realization of the expression of this great shift is very much palpable. It's very much there. It's very tangible. And I think it would be seen and felt a bit more after this summit," the researcher explained.

"And what countries agree to is what BRICS would therefore want to do, as opposed to: 'I have a very big economy. You have a small economy. Therefore, my voice will matter more than yours.' BRICS doesn't do that. China has a very large economy. I imagine the difference between China and South Africa. [...] But yet, South Africa has just as good a voice in the bloc as China. So these are some of the attractions that make BRICS so popular," he concluded.