BRICS Winning terrain ?
The Old World Order in Review
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Amsterdam, 7 juli 2025–The old world order has come to an end and it is up to the BRICS countries to make proposals for a new one during the summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is according to Brazilian foreign affairs government advisor Celso Amorim in an interview with the country’s largest television network.
Celso Amorim is one of the people Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known simply as Lula, listens to carefully. Since the inauguration of American President Donald Trump, there has been a ‘tariff war’ ongoing and multilateral negotiations are no longer taking place, only bilateral ones, argues Amorim, and according to him, this is wrong.
Not bound to Western agenda
Brazil has traditionally been known as a proponent of multilateral dialogue and achieving diplomatic solutions in conflicts. The country therefore hopes to give new impetus to a world order with the BRICS summit on July 6 and 7, in which countries like Brazil, which do not consider themselves bound to the agendas of especially the West, get more voice.
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Lula’s presence at the victory parade in Moscow on May 9 was viewed with raised eyebrows in the West, but is completely acceptable in the philosophy of non-alignment that Celso Amorim advocates.
Amorim declared in the interview with O Globo that a new world order is not on the agenda of the BRICS summit. But he does consider it necessary to discuss it.
According to him, it is undesirable for Europe to continue positioning itself as dependent on the United States. In this regard, Amorim also regrets that there is still no trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur countries Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. This is not only a trade agreement, but also a political agreement, he argues.
Moderating giants China and Russia
The kickoff for a new world order will not be easy, as two of the other powerful BRICS countries, China and Russia, have different ideas about what this should look like. China strives for a dominant leadership position in the global South, and together with Russia tends toward an anti-Western stance.
On the other hand, Indonesia joined in January and two other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia and Thailand, have submitted applications for BRICS membership. BRICS is an acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – but membership has recently been opened and the group strives to become larger and more influential.
According to Foreign Affairs magazine, countries like Indonesia have a moderating effect on the giants Russia and China and facilitate the multilateral balance that Brazil is so searching for.
Gaza and Iran
But both Russia and China are not sending their presidents to the summit in Rio, which already detracts from the weight of the meeting. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want to risk being arrested, because there is an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has declared that he has already met President Lula several times in the past year and that the urgency is now lacking. He is sending Premier Li Qiang.
Another hot topic is the conflict between Israel and Iran. Amorim finds it completely reprehensible that the United States and the European Union do condemn Russian actions in Ukraine, but not the Israeli attacks on Gaza and Iran. According to him, it is applying double standards. Iran is one of the countries that were added as members of BRICS in 2024, together with Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Brazil has strongly condemned the Israeli and American attacks on Iran and urges a diplomatic solution that also involves the United Nations. China also takes a stance that radiates sympathy toward Iran. Russia recently signed a strategic partnership with Iran, but remained relatively quiet during the recent bombings.
India, another original BRICS country, has on the contrary become increasingly closer to Israel in recent years, although it also has major economic interests in Iran. It will therefore be walking on eggshells for host country Brazil to draft a final declaration on Israel-Iran that is acceptable to everyone – if one comes at all.
Lula loses popularity
President Lula is remarkably quiet about the upcoming BRICS summit. But he could use a success, as he is doing poorly in domestic politics. In polls, his government doesn’t even reach 30 percent when it comes to public confidence.
In Congress, which is dominated by the right-wing opposition, Lula has suffered a sensitive defeat because tax increases for wealthy Brazilians were rejected by a large majority.
To make matters worse, the British magazine The Economist came out with an article at the end of June arguing that Lula is losing influence in foreign policy.
That criticism revolves precisely around what Amorim advocates: that Brazil is turning away from the West.
The Brazilian government has announced a response to the piece.