Bangladesh has recently announced its willingness to join BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, with a share of global GDP surpassing that of rich nations’ club G7. Meanwhile, according to Bangladesh officials, the country is also looking to join BRICS Bank. Some analysts are saying, there may not be immediate benefit for Bangladesh by joining BRICS, the organization will eventually yield medium to long-term advantage as it actively expands to reduce the dominance of the United States and dollar.
The BRICS bloc was created to provide a forum for developing economies to express their concerns and facilitate cooperation within a framework. In the early 2000s, when the group was still referred to as “BRIC” (a term devised to attract the attention of foreign investors to the economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, and China), the world was observing how well this new assemblage integrates itself.
Some had even suggested that in the near future, BRIC would adopt a position in opposition to the established world order – meaning, it would ultimately become a common bloc of the nations in the Global West.
So far, BRIC, and since 2011, BRICS (with the addition of South Africa) appear to favor operating within the established norms and with the entities and institutions that facilitated their emergence. Despite the fact that they placed a great deal of emphasis on the need to make the international order more democratic and representative, the past decade has altered the demography of the global economy, including the unprecedented growth of the BRICS economies.
Meanwhile, the developing world has also performed remarkably over the past few decades, resulting in a significant increase in the number of developing nations. Consequently, BRICS is undertaking initiatives to link the developing world. In addition, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt and Iran have already made formal requests to join the alliance, along with Argentina.
For many reasons, Bangladesh certainly would be considered as an important member of BRICS because of its textbook example of spectacular economic development. Consequently, it also possesses a number of essential characteristics for membership in BRICS. It may be mentioned here that, since 2009, an almost ruined economy of Bangladesh has been revived and now transformed into one of the most remarkable examples of how a country can attain socio-economic progress and turn its massive population into a precious workforce. During the past fourteen years, millions of new jobs have been created in the country while the list of export items have been very successfully diversified and increased.
Bangladesh is going to join BRICS at a very crucial time where the international economy is not really doing great signs mostly because of challenges posed by COVID pandemic and then Western sanctions centering Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. This sanction is gradually intensifying the sufferings of every country in the world, while the dollar-dependent global economy is struggling as Western sanctions are obstructing countries from buying industrial raw materials, fuel and even food grains as until now, all of such transactions need to be made through dollars.
In 2022, as the global economy neared the halfway mark for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, it was struck by a series of severe and mutually reinforcing disruptions.
High inflation is eroding real incomes, causing a global cost-of-living crisis that has driven millions of people into destitution and economic hardship. Massive economic cooperation and investments are a straightforward means of alleviating the global economic crisis.
BRICS and Bangladesh, on the other hand, have an ideal combination for investment and cooperation. A new horizon of cooperation has emerged as a result of the shifting economic characteristics and government approach to sustainable investment policy.
One of the key features of BRICS is alternative currency which would liberate the world from dollar dependence or dominance of dollars. At the same time, BRICS Bank can play a significant role in funding infrastructural and industrial projects in the member nations.
Quite obviously, the United States and its allies in the West shall consider and treat BRICS as a key rival, while the Global West would even make frantic bids in causing harm to the members countries of BRICS by meddling into domestic affairs with the ulterior agenda of destabilizing peace and in some cases the US and its western allies may also try to inject terrorism and militancy within the BRICS nations. In my 20+ years of experience as a counterterrorism researcher, it is not unknown to me about the capability of the US in particular in joining hands with local militancy and terrorist outfits in any of the targeted countries and finally jeopardizing progress, prosperity and peace and pushing the country towards destruction. We are aware of such examples from Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria and even Pakistan. So in my opinion, in addition to socio-economic collaboration, BRICS members should also emphasize on remaining vigil on the threats posed by terrorism and militancy. In this particular area, BRICS members shall have to work in unison, as terrorism and militancy are the key enemies of progress, prosperity and peace.
