With the economical growth of some countries, previously considered to be underdeveloped, the acronym BRIC is becoming increasingly common in communication channels around the world. BRIC are the initials for Brazil, Russia, India and China, and it was created to nominate the countries likely to become the greatest world economies in the next 40 years.
Together the BRICs have almost 50% of the world population and over a quarter of the world’s land. Although it was not the first idea, the possibility to turn BRIC into an economic block is part of the agenda, as cooperation between both is increasingly common. The idea is that China and India will become the countries with the highest production of manufactures and Brazil and Russia the dominant countries in raw materials, what means that each one will play an essential role in the maintenance of world economy by 2050.
The first official meeting of the BRICs’ presidents happened in June 2009 in Russia, and the second was held this week in Brazil. During the latest event, the four countries signed an agreement which provides cooperation between development banks of the four countries.
Also during the meeting, Brazil and China signed a Joint Action Plan (JAP), which will reach 11 different areas such as nuclear energy, economy and agriculture. The plan has a term ending in 2014, but annual updates are predicted by the two countries. According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry the JAP has diplomatic goals and it main economic objective is to establish China as a market economy.
In addition to the Plan, Brazil and China signed another 13 agreements, one for building a steel complex, valued at U.S. $ 5 billion, to be done by the Brazilian EBX, in partnership with the Chinese state Vuhan Steel. The complex will be built in the state of Rio de Janeiro and will have capacity to house up to 300 steel companies
Although there are criticisms in relation to the interests of the BRICs and some experts say that the partnership will not work, as each country has different aims, it is good to see that countries previously excluded from the World Economic domes are gradually conquering a space in the international market, even making the G8 fears its economic supremacy. This development it is not only significant for the BRICs governments but for the BRICs’ population which for years dreamed of being developed and evolved.
I've always found the BRIC countries interesting because like you mentioned, the countries together have almost 50% of the world's population but not nearly most of the world's money.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think that countries of that scale and that population would bring in vast amounts of GDP and would be great players in pretty much all the world's markets but the truth is, is that they're still very much developing.
While China is developing at the highest rate out of all and is a country that the world has a very close eye on, it's GDP (gross domestic product) is predicted to slow down in 2011. Granted its growth of 9.6% in 2011 is very high compared with the other BRIC countries and Western countries but growth is still planned to slow.
If these countries are really going to become the greatest world economies in the next 40 years, they're going to need some serious help. India although it now is the 11th largest economy in the world, have severe poverty and cannot expect to grow its economy to become a top world economy when there are still the levels of poverty that exist now.
As well as this, these countries are still recovering from the world recession that hit all countries hard.