Usurping the US dollar as the dominant reserve and trade currency is more complicated than creating an alternative, says an expert on south-south relations.
The 15th summit of the BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — in Johannesburg in late August will discuss proposals for a new gold-backed common currency.
Leading developing nations — including BRICS membership candidate Saudi Arabia — have already begun conducting bilateral trade in national currencies rather than the US dollar, crucially including crude oil sales.
Mohammed Saqib, secretary-general of the India-China Economic and Cultural Council, told Sputnik that it would take more than just setting up a new currency to "dethrone" the dollar.
He said the attractiveness of BRICS for prospective new members such as Algeria, Argentina, Nigeria and Nicaragua was the "abundant resources and technology" its members possess and its history of investment and financial support in Africa.
"BRICS offers relations that provide new export markets and avenues for knowledge-sharing and training programs to empower local resources and strengthen communities," Saqib said, but "more importantly, BRICS nations advocate for reform of international financial institutions and promote South-South cooperation for unified growth."
The commentator called de-dollarization "a dream of many countries" which they have harboured for decades — and now BRICS is "making it come true."
"Minimizing dependence on the US dollar and encouraging economic autonomy through de-dollarization has been a need felt by the global south," Saqib noted. "Business away from the dollar will effectively stabilize national economies, minimize risks associated with exchange rates, decrease transaction expenses, and foster regional unity."
But he cautioned that shifting to a new currency would need close coordination of the BRICS members' financial systems, and depended on many factors including "trust, economic fundamentals, global acceptance, financial infrastructure, and geopolitical considerations."
"Dethroning the US dollar's supremacy is a complex task that requires a comprehensive and coordinated effort...The process of the new currency to diversify the monetary landscape has started, it might take time, but the beginning of the end of dollar dominance has started," Saqib stressed.
With six weeks to go until the BRICS summit, US-dominated military alliance NATO is meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius to decide how next to escalate its proxy conflict with Russia in Ukraine.
The business ambassador said the two international organizations were as different as night and day.