Photo: RIA Novosti/Sergey Bobylev
Who will benefit most from this cooperation?
Bolivia will seek full inclusion in BRICS, its embassy in Russia confirmed to Izvestia. The country is also ready to offer its partners access to its natural resources, especially lithium. Bolivia is not the only country with a weaker economy waiting to join BRICS. However, experts believe that it is too early to consider including a large number of new members. How the expansion of BRICS at the expense of small countries can affect the effectiveness of the association - in the material Izvestia.
What Bolivia can offer to the BRICS countries
There is just a growing number of people who wish to join the BRICS interstate association. In addition to the five countries that have applied and will officially join the union on January 1, 2024, at least 20 more countries, including Bolivia, are waiting to be invited.
- The Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to seek full accession to the BRICS in order to take advantage of the new mechanisms of international relations that reduce dependence on the dollar in commercial transactions. Obviously, Bolivia's eventual inclusion in BRICS will depend on the members of the organization, which are currently determining the formats for the entry of new members and partners, said Bolivian Ambassador to Moscow Maria Luisa Ramos Ursagaste.
Bolivia, she said, maintains close relations with all members of the organisation because the country shares the agenda promoted by BRICS.
"In particular, building a multipolar world, a fairer world, free from interference and coercion, rejecting unilateral punishments and sanctions, outside the UN framework," she noted.
At the same time, Bolivian President Luis Arce earlier said that his country was ready to offer BRICS members access to lithium deposits.
"Our lithium deposits are our main strength for joining any alliance," Arce said.
Lithium is needed to make batteries in smartphones, laptops and cars. In addition, all these productions require huge volumes of metal. It would therefore take more than 60 kg of pure lithium to build a single Tesla electric car.
Switching to electric fuel and leaving behind cars that leave a large carbon footprint is now a priority for many countries. According to experts, the production of 15 million electric cars a year will require about 100 million tonnes of lithium.
Bolivia has almost the largest reserves of lithium in the world - about 21 million tonnes.The second place is occupied by Argentina - 20 million tonnes.The USA (12 million tonnes), Chile (11 million tonnes), Australia (7.9 million tonnes) and China (6.8 million tonnes).
Admittedly, there is nuance here. Despite its leading position in lithium reserves, Bolivia is not considered a champion in the production and export of this metal. Those positions are held by countries with much smaller deposits - Australia and China. This is because the terms offered by foreign companies have been favourable to other countries, but not to Bolivia.
- A few days before the 2019 coup d'état (during which President Evo Morales was ousted - Izvestia), Bolivia refused to sign a lithium production contract with a major German company. Many attribute this to the fact that the coup in the country was initiated by the Germans," says political scientist Igor Pshenichnikov.
Prospects of Bolivia joining the association
Countries in the south are attracted to this association because they do not want to be "subject to pressure from the dollar", Igor Pshenichnikov noted. But whether Bolivia will be able to join the BRICS is a big question and much will depend, among other things, on how the situation in South America as a whole and in the country itself develops. However, the last word will, of course, be given to the countries of the association, especially Brazil, which was at the birth of the structure and has represented the South American region on this platform for many years.
- Bolivia's neighbour Brazil is a member of BRICS and the expansion of BRICS at the expense of Bolivia (about 12 million people with a very small economy) will not lead to a radical increase in the power and potential of BRICS. And beyond unification, Bolivia is taking advantage of its neighbour's potential (in trade, industrial development, etc.), said Mikhail Mironyuk, first deputy dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the National Research University's School of Economics.
Russia and China are now Bolivia's main partners in the development of lithium deposits. In 2023, a subsidiary of Rosatom signed an agreement with the Bolivian state company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos ("Lithium Deposits of Bolivia") with the intention of investing $600 million in an international project. However, Russia's priority remains the development of its own lithium deposits.
But the potential for economic cooperation with Bolivia is not limited to lithium, says Mikhail Mironyuk.
In addition, Bolivia can offer the BRICS countries access to its gas and oil fields. In August this year, Bolivia's state oil and gas company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (Bolivian Fiscal Oil Fields), discovered a new hydrocarbon field with 0.7 trillion cubic metres of gas reserves. feet and 2 million barrels of oil. The company estimates that this could enrich the country's energy exports in the future and reduce dependence on imported oil products.
Russia has been cooperating with Bolivia in the gas sector since 2018. Gazprom and Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos signed a strategic cooperation agreement. It does not involve the import of Bolivian gas to Russia.
Can small countries strengthen BRICS?
However, experts doubt that the economic potential of small countries like Bolivia can strengthen BRICS. In other words, small countries are likely to benefit more from having strong partners behind them than large countries among them.
"There are compelling justifications that expansion, especially at the expense of the 'big' countries in some respects, strengthens BRICS, as well as equally compelling justifications that, on the contrary, expansion without institution-building weakens BRICS," says Mikhail Mironyuk.
At the last BRICS Summit, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were invited to join. They must become full members as of 1 January 2024.
However, Argentina's entry into the BRICS has been called into question by the election of the new president, Javier Miley, whose administration does not see the benefits of participation in the association and cooperation with "communist" countries.
BRICS is now only at the beginning of its evolutionary journey, when it needs to decide on the rules of communication and common positions in relation to global problems, says Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Policy Studies. In general, he says, the expansion to five countries announced at this year's summit in South Africa is quite sufficient for now.
Although there are many more people who want to join BRICS. In addition to Bolivia, they include Venezuela (hoping to join as early as 2024), Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus (Minsk's request is expected to be considered a priority), Vietnam, Cuba, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait , Morocco, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Senegal, Thailand.
The entry of the "small" countries should occur as a result of the development of BRICS, when a common position on most of the key issues of this structure will be agreed, Vladimir Bruter believes.
- The desire to find a common platform with the major players is not enough to create an internal agenda and rules of the game. It is one thing to have preferences from the big countries in the bloc and another thing to take on commitments," the expert concluded.
In 2024, the Russian Federation will hold the BRICS chairmanship. The summit of the countries of the association is to be held in Kazan in October. During the Russian presidency, issues related to the category of partner states of the association will be finalized.
Izvestia/JaV
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