30.06.2025, Brasilia.
The BRICS 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled for July 6-7, faces serious challenges. Many of the most important leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, will not attend it. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also canceled his trip because of growing problems in the Middle East, Brazil’s The Rio Times wrote on June 29.
China will send its premier of the State Council, Li Qiang. Putin will participate via video link only, and the Russian delegation will be personally led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Turkey and Mexico, which were invited as special guests, will also send lower-level officials instead of their presidents.
These changes show that many countries do not see this year’s BRICS meeting as a top priority.
The BRICS group, which originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has recently added countries such as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the publication recalls. However, the group has no formal treaty, no fixed budget and no permanent headquarters. That makes it difficult to agree on important decisions, especially as the organization grows.
The Brazilian government had hoped that the Rio summit would show the world that BRICS can lead on important issues such as trade, health care and climate change. Instead, the absence of top leaders makes the meeting look weak. The BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro is being disrupted by the absence of key leaders, which shows the weakness of Brazil’s leadership, says The Rio Times.
Some experts say Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has failed to get “full respect” from other BRICS members this year. At the same time, the United States, led by Donald Trump, is gaining more attention on the world stage. This puts even more pressure on the BRICS, which once wanted to be a strong alternative to Western power.
Now that the BRICS’ largest members are sending lower-level officials or skipping the meeting altogether, the group’s influence looks much smaller.
The absence of key leaders, divisions within the group and growing global competition make it difficult for BRICS to remain relevant.
This summit should have been an important event for Brazil and for the group. Instead, it shows how divided and insecure BRICS has become, the newspaper said.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
