News: India’s External Affairs Minister has virtually attended the foreign ministers meeting of BRICS countries.During the meet, foreign minister said that any challenges to international peace and security and violent conflict in various parts of the world should be resolved through political and diplomatic engagement.
Facts:
- BRICS: It is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- Origin: The acronym “BRIC” was initially formulated in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill, of Goldman Sach.
- The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in Russia.In 2010, South Africa was invited to join BRIC after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
- Significance: The comprises 42% of the world’s population, has 23% of the global GDP and around 17% of the world trade.
- Chairmanship: The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
- Recent Summit: The 11th BRICS summit was held in 2019 in Brasilia, Brazil under the theme BRICS: Economic Growth for an Innovative Future.
