• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired a virtual Extraordinary Joint Meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders and leaders of invited BRICS members on the situation in Gaza on November 21.

• Invited BRICS leaders of Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the meeting virtually. 

• The virtual talks organised by current BRICS chair South Africa were the first between the group’s leaders since Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for a deadly raid by militant group Hamas on Israel on October 7.

• Minister of External Affairs S.Jaishankar, who addressed the virtual meeting on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, called for addressing concerns of Palestinians and stressed the two-state solution. He also pointed out that in response to the crisis in Gaza, India has sent 70 tonnes of humanitarian assistance and will continue its relief assistance.

The BRICS nations

• The BRICS nations or Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa form the five key pillars of south-south cooperation and are the representative voice of emerging markets and developing countries in the global forums such as the G20.

• The BRICS represent 41 per cent of the world population, 29 per cent of the global surface area and account for over 24 per cent of the global GDP.

• The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, ‘The World Needs Better Economic BRICs’ on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

• The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, the group was formalised as BRIC during the First BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City.

• After a series of high level meetings, the first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on June 16, 2009.

• It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the third BRICS Summit in Sanya on April 14, 2011. 

• In 2014, the BRICS nations established the New Development Bank (NDB). It has an initial authorised capital of $100 billion and initial subscribed capital of $50 billion of which $10 billion is paid-in capital.

• BRICS nations have decided to admit Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as full members of the grouping from January 1, 2024.

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