On the first day of 2024, the BRICS countries officially welcomed five new members, which undoubtedly means that the voice of the "Global South" will be louder in the coming days. It is worth mentioning that Iran, which has just joined the BRICS, has been very active these days and has quickly stepped into the role of advising on the development of the BRICS.
According to the Russian Sputnik news agency, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Safari said that the Iranian side is very interested in the formation of the BRICS secretariat. Considering Russia's extensive experience of working in world and regional organizations, Moscow may be able to form a secretariat within the BRICS mechanism.
Truth be told, it is not at all surprising that Iran will appear to be more active than the other new members. After all, Iran is also under Western sanctions, step by step, to get to where it is today, which is not easy. Now, having joined the SCO and BRICS, Iran has given Iran two of the best platforms to crush Western oppression head-on. It is foreseeable that in the coming days, Iran's activity will most likely play a large role within the BRICS.
But then again, because of Russia's rotating presidency this year, as well as Iran and Russia, although there was a small unpleasant incident some time ago, the overall relationship is still okay. For this reason, it is not incomprehensible that Iran has just joined the BRICS and strongly supported Russia to set up a secretariat. And in my opinion, it is true that Iran is so active, but it is necessary to be careful and do bad things with good intentions.
Why do we say that? Here we can actually do a simple elimination in the matter of the establishment of the secretariat.
First of all, we can exclude the five countries that have just joined the BRICS. After all, they have just joined the group, and no matter what kind of experience and qualifications they have, they are not enough.
This is followed by Brazil and South Africa. Although these two countries were the original Member States, they were clearly lacking in terms of economic power and international influence, and they were not very suitable to put the Secretariat in these two countries.
As for the Russian side, despite the strong support of Iran, Lavrov has long made it clear that at least at this stage, there is no need for the BRICS to set up a secretariat, and it will not be needed "for a long time". It can be said that Russia is opposed to this matter.
Then only China and India remain. You don't have to think much about it to know that eighty percent of it is no fun. With India's current strength, it will not let China overwhelm itself on various affairs, and if China is really chosen, I am afraid that in the meeting, the Indian delegates will smash the table. Similarly, with India's habit of carrying smuggled goods, few member states would agree to allow India to set it up.
Frankly speaking, the expansion of the BRICS has given all member countries a brighter prospect of cooperation, but Iran's proposal this time is clearly not considered. Just by discussing the establishment of the Secretariat, it can be seen that the BRICS countries are very complex associations. The main reason is that the social system, economic level and national gas of the member countries are not consistent. If the Secretariat were to be established, it would likely lead to contradictions that would undermine internal unity.
From this point of view, do you think that Lavrov's blunt statement that the BRICS will not set up a secretariat at present, is still very reasonable.
All in all, in my opinion, the BRICS has not been established for a long time, and I believe that with the passage of time and continuous development, the BRICS countries will become more and more mature, and then when the time comes, it will naturally come to pass. Iran's positive performance is good for the development of the BRICS countries in the long run, but sometimes good intentions can also be bad.