The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) plan to adopt, next year, a strategy aimed at the development of economic cooperation. The geopolitical opponents of the BRICS Group of countries continue their non-stop attempts to “bury” the alliance, saying that it will inevitably fall to pieces because of the differences existing within the organization’s framework. However, the BRICS countries are pinning great hopes on their partnership.

Today the BRICS Group is an influential international association. Together, the five countries account for 43 per cent of the world’s population and for more than one -fourth of the world economy. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the BRICS countries is growing faster than the GDP of the Western states.

After these figures were released, both European and American analysts started saying that the BRICS Group is an artificial union, which will become non-existent soon due to the differences existing between its members. Meanwhile, at the session of the BRICS Analytical Council earlier this year the BRICS members decided to set up a development bank and to create a data base to be able to exchange economic information as well as all other types of information.

Many experts say that a new financial body will serve as a counterbalance to structures staying under the influence of the West – such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), President of the Unity For the Sake of Russia Foundation Vyacheslav Nikonov says.

“50 billion dollars are a big sum, and this money could be used for the development of the BRICS countries and also for international development. Equally important for the BRICS countries is the establishment of the USD 100 billion stabilization fund, which should be used in case of market liquidity.”

The BRICS countries have set themselves the task to achieve the modernization of the world economic system, with the US and the European Union (EU) being in the centre of it, Vadim Lukov, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, says.

“The BRICS Group is seeking to carry out a deep reform of the international financial and economic architecture. The BRICS member-states are facing common challenges – in brief, challenges to modernization. They have acquired a unique experience of reforming and big currency reserves. The BRICS leaders are determined to overcome the existing differences, which will enable their countries to develop more dynamically.”

Next year the BRICS member-states will have to resolve a number of issues dealing with the customs rules and to eliminate the difference in the main GDP coefficients of the BRICS states. Although the BRICS countries continue to pattern their behavior on their foreign partners, interaction within the BRICS framework is actively gaining speed. Altogether, more than 20 formats of cooperation, including the summits of the BRICS heads of state and an expert dialogue, are currently operational within the BRICS framework.