First BRICS Summit — Yekaterinburg
The 2009 Yekaterinburg summit transformed BRIC from an economists' concept into a diplomatic reality. The four leaders — Lula da Silva (Brazil), Dmitry Medvedev (Russia), Manmohan Singh (India), and Hu Jintao (China) — agreed on a joint communiqué calling for a multipolar world order and reform of the Bretton Woods institutions. The summit was convened in the immediate wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, which had severely damaged confidence in US-led economic governance and lent urgency to calls for institutional reform. South Africa joined in 2010, giving the grouping an African presence and completing the BRICS acronym. The New Development Bank was established in 2015 as a BRICS alternative to the World Bank, with $100 billion in initial capitalisation. The 2023 Johannesburg summit announced the largest expansion in BRICS history: Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Ethiopia were invited to join, nearly doubling membership and underscoring the shift from an economic forum to a broader platform for states seeking alternatives to US-dominated institutions.
- Year: 2009 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
