BRICS Brasil Bulletin #23 - BRICS Summit in Brasil Marks Turning Point for the Global South on the World Stage
Under Brasil’s leadership, an expanded BRICS coalition scored historic wins in climate action, artificial intelligence, and health. Representing 39% of global GDP, the bloc has demonstrated that the Global South is no longer a secondary player—it is setting the pace for sustainable development, and substitute players are now joining the game. Listen to the BRICS special report to learn more
Report by Inez Mustafa and Leandro Molina/ BRICS Brasil
Voice-over: Laura Frederico and Enrique Villamil
Reporter: What if the Global South were competing in the most important championship of the century? Before kickoff, let’s take a closer look at the team: nations from the Southern Hemisphere with a history of colonization, persistent inequality, and a developing economy. Today, however, they are all operating under the same tactical formation—the BRICS group. In 2025, Brasil served as head coach of this unprecedented lineup during the BRICS Leaders Summit, held on July 6–7 in Rio de Janeiro. For the first time, Brasil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were joined by new members—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Ethiopia, and Indonesia—under the theme “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.” Every move in this match shapes the future of 3.6 billion people—nearly a full planetary stadium.
Let’s hear from the Brazilian team captain, Ambassador and Sherpa Mauricio Lyrio, who coordinated strategies with the sherpas of the other ten nations and emphasized the importance of unified action by the Global South when it comes to tackling socioeconomic inequalities.
Mauricio Lyrio: For the Global South, playing as a team means acknowledging that we face similar challenges—after all, these are developing countries—and working together to address them. This teamwork draws on our diverse capacities across various sectors to produce shared, amplified, and far-reaching results that ultimately benefit the population at large.
Reporter: However, the team took some hard hits in 2025. Accused of being “anti-West,” BRICS skillfully countered with diplomatic finesse from Celso Amorim, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Chief Advisor at the Special Advisory Office of the Presidency of Brasil, who asserted that BRICS was “neither the West nor the East, but the Global South.”
Celso Amorim: BRICS is a group of developing countries that seeks prosperity, but also peace. And in the world we live in today, I believe the most urgent goal to be the pursuit of peace. BRICS is essentially the new name of development.
Reporter: Opening the 17th BRICS Leaders’ “match,” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva—who also serves as head coach—made his strategic vision clear: BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement, which rejected the Cold War-era division of the world into capitalist and socialist blocs.
President Lula: The Bandung Conference rejected the division of the world into spheres of influence and advanced the struggle for a multipolar international order. BRICS is a successor to the Non-Aligned Movement.
Reporter: Under Brasil’s presidency, BRICS was more than a one-off match: it was rather a full-blown championship, with over 200 meetings held across areas such as health, artificial intelligence, and climate. Ambassador Lyrio detailed the goals that were scored.
Mauricio Lyrio: We negotiated a declaration on eliminating socially determined diseases—illnesses rooted in poverty. Another declaration focused on artificial intelligence, a topic that impacts people’s everyday lives in very real ways. And we also made headway on climate negotiations, because one of our key goals is to ensure BRICS contributes meaningfully to the success of the COP in Brasil and to the broader fight against climate change.
Reporter: But how long has BRICS been playing as a team? The BRICS League was founded in 2009, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis—when Brasil, Russia, India, and China recognized the need to pass the ball and confront inequality together. Today’s strategy includes a financial counterattack: using local currencies in trade among BRICS countries, in a move distinct from existing efforts to de-dollarize the global economy. Ambassador Tatiana Rosito, Secretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance of Brasil, offers more insight into this often-misunderstood issue.
Tatiana Rosito: Local currency trade, or the greater use of national currencies to facilitate commerce and investment, is already underway, as we’ve seen for instance between Brasil and China. The main challenge is generally cost: it's often cheaper and easier to use major global currencies, which are more liquid. Still, BRICS has long aimed to expand the use of local currencies when it helps reduce costs and proves beneficial for importers and exporters within the group.
Reporter: Talking of economic improvement and social development inevitably leads to one subject: money. That’s where the BRICS Bank comes into play—enhancing financial autonomy for developing countries, and funding infrastructure and sustainable development projects—not only for BRICS members but also for other nations in the Global South. Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank (NDB), elaborates on the subject.
Dilma Rousseff: Since its creation, the NDB has been based on a clear principle: countries of the Global South—BRICS member states—have both the right and the capacity to chart their own development paths. Infrastructure, industrial and technological modernization, and sustainability should be financed not through the imposition of uniform models, but by promoting social justice, sovereignty, and sustainable growth.
Reporter: As this report should have made clear: the decisions and outcomes of BRICS countries have a direct effect on society. But you may be wondering where the public comes in. Where are the crowds, the fans, civic participation? BRICS wouldn’t be complete without social involvement. Gustavo Westmann, Head of International Affairs at the Office of the Secretary-General of the Presidency and coordinator of the People 2 People track, explains when and how citizens step onto the field.
Gustavo Westmann: Drawing on the experience we gained in recent years, we are working towards ensuring that society has a seat at the decision-making table. One thing is becoming increasingly clear: today, it is not enough for civil society to be simply present—people want to have an impact and shape the outcome. This is a global trend, and it’s particularly strong in Brasil under President Lula’s third term.
Reporter: In 2023, the team was already on a winning streak and expanded dramatically—from five to eleven players. BRICS now represents 39% of the world’s GDP. Leulseged Abebe, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Brasil and a key player who attended nearly all the meetings, celebrates his country’s debut as a full-fledged member.
Leulseged Abebe: We aimed to take to the next level our economic ties with all BRICS member nations. We believe that Ethiopia’s membership will strengthen the platform and also help us diversify partnerships in trade, tourism, investment, and development financing. We are ready to work closely with Brasil and all BRICS members, including new entrants.
Reporter: At the final whistle of the Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro, BRICS hoisted four trophies: the Joint Declaration of the 17th BRICS Summit, and three thematic statements—on Climate Finance Global AI Governance, and a Partnership for the Elimination of Socially Determined Diseases. The game has changed, and the Global South is no longer sitting on the sidelines. It is driving the agenda for emerging economies, advancing sustainable development, poverty eradication, and reforms of global governance. Visit brics.br to follow the next moves in the BRICS Global League.
English version: Tadeu Azevedo (POET/UFC)
Proofreading: Enora Lessinger (POET/UFC)