RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Friday emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India have a bigger global influence than some countries in the Group of 8 (G8) in the current economic situation.

    Amorim, who will attend the first summit of BRIC countries that include Brazil, China, Russia and India next week, said that "the G8 is dead."

    "They (the G8 countries) will keep on being important, but cannot replace the indispensable presence of countries such as China, Brazil and India," he said.

    He also said the Group of 20 (G20), of which Brazil is a member, presents a better model in the current economic situation than G8, which gathers the seven largest developed countries in the world plus Russia.

    Amorim, together with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will participate in the upcoming summit of BRIC countries in Yekaterinburg, Russia on June 16.