Special Interview | Brazil-17th BRICS Summit concludes on 2nd day - video Dailymotion

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We interview Arnold August, journalist and expert in Geopolitics, to go deep into the relevance of the 17th BRICS Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro between July 6th-7th, which had as relevant topics multilateral peace, security architecture, global health and environment. teleSUR

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00:00And to go deep into the relevance of the 17th Summit of the BRICS, we invite now author and

00:05journalist Arnold August. Hi, Arnold. How are you? And thank you very much for joining us.

00:11Very well. Thank you very much. How are you?

00:16Very good. First, Arnold, to what extent has BRICS evolved from an economic bloc into a

00:23geopolitical counterweight to Western-led alliances? We're talking about like NATO G7, for example.

00:30Yes. I think that, you know, one has to take into account. We're talking about BRICS. Of course,

00:36there's a lot of weaknesses and all that and differences amongst the different members.

00:41But that's normal. But BRICS is only 17 years old. That's very young. When one takes into account

00:48that it is taking place in opposition to a system of colonialism and imperialism that has existed

00:55over five centuries. Now, right now, as we speak, BRICS already has 11 full members. That is

01:03Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia,

01:14and Saudi Arabia. That's 11. Plus, as you probably know, there are now 10 partners, which are very

01:22important, many of which are in Latin America, for example, amongst the countries that are now

01:27partners. You have Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan,

01:37and Vietnam. Now, all these countries together, Alejandro, they comprise over 40% of the global economy.

01:46That's quite a bit. And if one takes into account, amongst these countries, you have China,

01:51whose modernization is developing so quickly, it's going to increase the proportion of the BRICS

02:00countries and the overall global economy in the coming years. In addition, the BRICS countries,

02:06they comprise over 50% of the world population. So as you're saying, it's a very important development

02:15that's taking place as a counterweight to the northern hegemony over the global south.

02:25And Arnold, the main themes of this summit's agenda included multilateral peace, included also

02:32security architecture. How might the expansion of the BRICS with countries like Iran, Egypt,

02:39Ethiopia reshape the bloc's position on global conflict resolutions? Let's recall that we are taking

02:45into account that this summit is taking place just a few weeks after the 12-day confrontation

02:49between Israel and Iran. Yes, I think that's an important point. Because, for example, one of the

02:56main issues in the world today, talking about the Middle East, etc., is the issue of sanctions.

03:03And, you know, one of the positive things that is coming out, that came out of the BRICS

03:09conclave in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil over the last couple of days, was a step further towards

03:20offering an alternative to the SWIFT network, which the SWIFT network is the U.S.-based, U.S.-run

03:31banking network, which controls all of the finances around the world.

03:36Now, BRICS does not pretend to overcome this right away, but they took an important step

03:41against this past couple of days, where the mechanism to look into an alternative to the

03:49SWIFT mechanism is being worked out. And, of course, it's very closely in conjunction with

03:56the New Development Bank, which is based, is part of BRICS and is based in Shanghai, run by Dilma Rousseff.

04:04And, of course, working closely, very closely with Lula. And so I think this is very important.

04:11It's not an accent, Alejandro, that of all the things that are taking place in Brazil,

04:16he pointed out today, he does not, he warned the people in the BRICS not to join any effort

04:25to develop an alternative to the SWIFT system of financing.

04:30He said he will set 10 percent sanctions on any country that tries to do that.

04:36Well, thanks a lot, Mr. Trump, because what he's doing is encouraging the countries and

04:42the global south to work further toward that goal, to have a, not to overthrow the U.S. system

04:49as such, but have an alternative to the U.S. system based on the SWIFT, which is what the

04:56global south wants. They want a sanction-free economic system, financial system, and that

05:03is what they're looking for. The SWIFT system is made to measure to be used for sanctions

05:11against countries. For example, Cuba. Because Cuba is on the so-called list of countries supporting

05:20terrorism, they cannot use the SWIFT system for banking exchanges. So this is another way

05:25in which the north uses sanctions against the countries of the south. And if one good thing

05:31comes out of this meeting in Brazil over the last two days, it's one step further to replace

05:39or to offer an alternative to the SWIFT system of economic international banking.

05:48You mentioned finances, and precisely another key issue in the summit's agenda was economy.

05:54And in this matter, what role could the New Development Bank play in the current international

05:59scenario, which is marked by precisely what you mentioned, Trump's war on the global economy

06:04through the imposition of tariffs? Well, I think that, you know, irrespective of what

06:10Trump says, irrespective of his wishes, one of the main features of the RICs is very closely

06:19tied with countries such as China. For example, China is working out very important development

06:25schemes with Belt and Road initiatives, as well as other type of exchange between countries

06:34in the global south to develop the respective economies in the global south, not based on

06:39the issue of profit, which is the only way the north can carry out so-called development,

06:45but rather on the base of what the Chinese call win-win politics. That is to develop, for example,

06:51in Africa and other countries in Southeast Asia, develop the economy so that the people there could

06:59have a better lifestyle, better life, and vastly improve the living conditions of the people of

07:05the south. This is what BRICS is all about. And I think, in this sense, China has an important role

07:10to play in this whole plan because of its strong role as an economic leader, as well as a model on how to

07:21develop the economy based on a win-win situation and against the imperative of the imperialist north,

07:29where they only see countries of the south historically as a source of profit. This is coming to an end,

07:37slowly but surely, with the development of BRICS.

07:43Thank you. Thank you, Arnold, for taking us through the main highlights of this summit's agenda,

07:49and for your time hearing from the south.

07:52You're welcome. Thank you.

Special Interview | Brazil-17th BRICS Summit concludes on 2nd day

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