CNN Opinion: August 25, 2023

The BRICS bloc of emerging nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — this week more than doubled its membership, extending the welcome mat to cash-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, outlier Iran, as well as Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia. The move breathes new life into a group set to rival the G7 and brings the world closer to multi-polarity.

Today’s summits rarely wind up with seismic accomplishments — especially ones with such relatively unwieldy and uninspiring titles as “BRICS and Africa: Fostering Collaborative Growth, Sustainable Progress and Comprehensive Multilateralism.”

But the relatively young and sidelined BRICS bloc — formed in 2009 and representing some 40% of the world’s population and a quarter of the global GDP — was able to overcome opposition among its five members and add significant muscle to potentially challenge much-maligned western forums.

Read my full dispatch from the BRICS Summit in South Africa here