COOPERATION CHALLENGES
The people in BRICS nations account for 40 percent of the world's population, and their combined GDP accounts for 15 percent of the world's total.
Along with their respectively robust economic growth and quick recovery, economic cooperation and trade among the BRICS countries have also been surging.
Trade for BRICS has shot up with an average annual growth rate of 28 percent from 2001 to 2010, with the total volume of trade among BRICS countries reaching 230 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.
China is currently the biggest trading partner of Brazil and South Africa, and a major partner of India and Russia.
In 2010, trade between China and the other four countries exceeded 180 billion U.S. dollars, up 40 percent from the previous year.
Cooperation among BRICS has also been expanded to areas such as agriculture, energy, and science and technology.
BRICS countries enjoy relatively complementary economies, which paves the way for even more cooperation.
Russia is called "the world's gas station" with rich oil and gas resources. Brazil is named "the world's raw material base" abounding in soybean and iron ore, while China is dubbed "the world's factory" with a strong manufacturing sector, and India is claimed as "the world's office" for its highly professional employees in IT and service sectors.
As a result, Brazil and Russia can provide raw materials to China and India, while the latter two can provide good services and products to the former two.
Although still a relatively small economy, South Africa is the biggest and most influential economy in Africa. Its joining builds a bridge for the BRICS countries and the African continent, opening new markets for both parties.
However, cooperation among BRICS is never easy. Among opportunities and trust there are also competition and suspicion.
Both as Asia's emerging economies, China and India compete for the world market and strategic resources. As both natural resources exporters, Russia and Brazil face similar competition.
There are also territorial and political disagreements among BRICS countries.
However, as the new force of emerging countries, the BRICS nations are obliged to speak in one voice on behalf of developing countries on many major international issues, such as global security, anti-terrorism, climate change, aerospace, economy and energy.
How to deal with their differences and cooperate as best as they can test the BRICS nations' wisdom and courage.
