SCO and BRICS in Russia—Russia and China overlapping membership

IBSA and BRIC in Brazil— Brazil and India overlapping members.

IBSA –

- Three large DEMOCRACIES together

- Shared democratic traditions provides additional glue to a grouping that joins India with the
most important powers of Africa and South America.
- China would not qualify … hence difficulty of CHIBSA (Ginger climate change group exists--
BASIC) 
- IBSA Fund: which extends assistance to developing countries, won the 2010 United
Nations Millennium Development Goals award for South-South cooperation?
- IBSAMAR II: A second maritime exercise, IBSAMAR II, was held in the Indian Ocean off
the South African coast, involving 11 ships of three member-states.
- IBSA's identity stems from its uniqueness,
- the ability of the three large countries — all democracies, rising economies,
proponents of inclusive development and multilateralism — from three different
continents to work together, despite their obvious differences.
- Its success lies in broadening its convergences and cooperation.
- As Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim once observed, IBSA is an alliance not against
anyone but “in favour of our peoples;” it is also “in favour of a multipolar world
where democracy — political, social, cultural — prevails.”

BRIC –

- The expansion of BRIC is problematic because the majority of its members fear the dilution
of the forum's core competence: fast rising economies with a growing footprint in
the global economy and system.
- BRIC today accounts for a little under a quarter of world output. The South African
economy is not yet in that league.
- Other countries that have expressed an interest in joining BRIC are Mexico, Indonesia and
Turkey. The Turks are also apparently interested in IBSA.
- “What makes BRIC a good fit today

 is that the four countries have complementary factor endowments and national
skills
 China has solid manufacturing and huge financial clout,
 Russia has energy and advanced technology in certain fields,
 Brazil is an agricultural superpower with strong manufacturing and
 India has a comparative advantage in IT, pharmaceuticals as well as agriculture.
 In an article written on the eve of the BRIC summit, President Dmitri Medvedev spoke
of the four countries collaborating with each other in nuclear technology, space
technology, aircraft manufacturing, nanotechnology and other fields.
  But some in the Indian establishment remain sceptical of doing too much with BRIC, fearing
a backlash from the U.S.

IBSA IN DETAIL:

IBSA needs to be assessed in terms of four important facets.

1) The first is coordination and articulation of common positions on international

and regional issues.
2) Secondly, the IBSA Fund, a facility for alleviation of poverty and hunger
3) The third facet, trilateral cooperation, has been perceived from the outset as
“an important tool” for promoting social and economic development.
4) The fourth facet is a steady expansion of interaction beyond the executive wings
— and indeed beyond governments…. Inclusive of CIVILSOCIETY.

1) The first is coordination and articulation of common positions on

international and regional issues.

– perceptions of global governance,

– social dimensions of globalisation,
– climate change, disarmament and non-proliferation
– U.N. Security Council reform,
– Doha Round and climate change

The joint declaration, issued at the last Summit in Brasilia in April 2010, reflects the member-states'
perceptions of global governance, social dimensions of globalisation, climate change,
disarmament and non-proliferation, among others. On U.N. Security Council reform, they have
tried to speak with one voice, while keeping in view South Africa's dilemma (between an ardent desire for
permanent membership and the anxiety not to stray from the joint African position). Regarding the Doha
Round and climate change, IBSA prefers to speak after adequate internal coordination.The tendency to hold
forth on regional issues, one or more of which may be of direct interest to only one member-state, reminds old-
timers of a similar impulse within the Non-Aligned Movement in the past. Are Brazil and South Africa really
interested in Afghanistan, or is India in Haiti? Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that IBSA's views are monitored
closely in capitals around the world.

2) Secondly, the IBSA Fund, a facility for alleviation of poverty

and hunger, has been a notable achievement. International recognition of its success
should be quite encouraging. It is apt that the three rising economic powers stand committed
to assisting fellow developing countries, with specific projects in a few targeted areas. So far,
seven countries — Burundi, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Laos, Cambodia
and Palestine — have benefited from it. However, critics would argue that IBSA assistance
 is too limited, with each member-state contributing just $1 million annually. Surely, they can
afford to be more generous. If IBSA truly wants to make a difference, it should step up its
assistance, expedite its decision-making and undertake more projects.
3) The third facet, trilateral cooperation, has been perceived
from the outset as “an important tool” for promoting social
and economic development.

- TRADE
- INVESTMENT
- DEFENCE
- TOURISM
- SCIENCE N TECHNOLOGY(including IT and Energy)
- Ways for Cooperation: 16 Working Groups,12 MoU`s,Visits of Officials, India-Mercosur
PTA and SACU-Mercosur PTA has been signed already, but India SACU PTA remains to be
signed.
- TTA : Trilateral Trade Agreement to be signed: India+SACU+MERCOSUR
- Synergy and Complementarities in Energy : Brazil- Biofuels, India-Renewable energy,
SouthAfrica – Coal to liquid
- Defence Cooperation slow but now shared threats around Indian ocean and Southatlantic
ocean hence Navy excercises.
- Connectivity through better transport and communication link.

At the Brasilia meeting in 2003, the Foreign Ministers identified five broad areas: trade,
investment, tourism, defence and science and technology (including IT and
energy). An extraordinary proliferation of areas has since occurred, covering a large segment of
governance itself. Sixteen (16) working groups have been in operation; 12 Memorandums
of Understanding are in force; and another five are awaiting ratification. Officials of the
Ministries handling education, health, revenue administration, agriculture, etc., appear engaged
in frequent inter-continental travels for exchanging ideas and crafting cooperation
programmes. Their labour, it is hoped, will promote taxpayers' welfare in the near future.

In this context, trade should receive a high priority as a complex structure is being put in place. The
first two stages have been reached, with the signing of the Sacu-Mercosur Preferential Trade
Agreement (PTA) and the coming into effect of the India-Mercosur PTA in April and June
2009. Efforts to finalise an India-Sacu PTA need to be expedited. In August 2010, Minister of
Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma pledged that a PTA would be finalised “soon.” If officials
deliver on this quickly, the way would be cleared for forging a Trilateral Trade Arrangement
(TTA) involving Mercosur, Sacu and India. This is already being hailed as “the largest trade
agreement in the developing world” of future. This ambitious goal needs a deadline. Will the
TTA be a reality when IBSA turns 10 in 2013?

Energy has often been cited as an ideal field where each country has special expertise which
is of benefit to others: Brazil in biofuels, South Africa in coal-to-liquid (CTL)
technology, and India in renewable sources of energy. After useful preliminary work, it is
now time for IBSA to launch a series of projects demonstrating synergy and complementarities.
On the face of it, defence cooperation may seem to lack potential; but the reality is different.
IBSA does not face a common conventional threat, but it has been developing shared threat
perceptions, especially in the region around South Africa, the geographical centre of the
IBSA world. This explains its growing interest in augmenting cooperation among the three Navies.
Connectivity through better transport and telecommunication links has been given
due priority, but progress has been slow.

4) The fourth facet is a steady expansion of interaction beyond the executive wings
— and indeed beyond governments. Meetings have been arranged of
parliamentarians and representatives of apex courts.

- Business leaders, women activists, editors, academics and artistes have been
engaged in frequent exchanges in order to provide a strong civil society
underpinning to IBSA inter-governmental cooperation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
has been especially supportive of these endeavours, deeply conscious of the immense value of
people-to-people relations.