Virtual BRICS-Plus Summit: Mixed Reactions to Middle East Crisis

GS Paper II International Relations

Context:

India’s External Affairs Minister attended the virtual BRICS-Plus joint meeting on the Middle East situation in Gaza.

About BRICS:

BRICS started in 2001 as BRIC, an acronym coined by Goldman Sachs for Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
- South Africa was added in 2010.
The 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, in Russia in 2009.
Together, BRICS countries represent 27% of the world’s land mass, and 42% of the world’s population, 24% of global GDP, and 16% of Global trade, and produce 33% of the world’s food.
BRICS Expansion: Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are included as a new member in BRICS grouping.
- Six new candidates will formally become members on Jan. 1, 2024.

Related Article: BRICS Expansion

The BRICS-Plus meet titled ‘Extraordinary Joint Meeting on the Middle East situation’ was attended by leaders of the participating countries – Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.
India’s Prime Minister declined to attend the summit due to other commitments.
- However, the decision to skip an appearance with the other leaders of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa grouping also indicates New Delhi’s discomfort with deliberations that were likely to be critical of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

South Africa: South Africa urged for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ and called Israel’s “collective punishment of Palestinian civilians” a war crime.
China: China too called for an “immediate end to hostilities” in the Gaza Strip and urged for an end to “the collective punishment of Palestinians”
India: India outlined that ‘Where terrorism is concerned, none of us should or can compromise with it. Hostage-taking is equally unacceptable and cannot be condoned’.
Russia: Russia called for a ceasefire in Gaza, the freeing of hostages and the evacuation of civilians from the Gaza Strip.
Brazil: Brazil called the war a “humanitarian catastrophe” but avoided using the word genocide as he has in the past.