Saudi Arabia - October 16, 2024

BRICS serves as a platform for more countries' voices to be heard, while its recent expansion helps counter the often Western-dominated global order by bringing together more international players from the Global South, experts said on Wednesday while attending a forum held in Beijing via video link.

The Global South Think Tanks Forum, which was jointly held by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the China Media Group (CMG), invited representatives of 40 think tanks from Global South countries to discuss the future of global development amid an era of great change and turbulence.

The forum came just head of the annual BRICS summit, which is set to take place in Russia's Kazan from Oct 22-24. It will gather leaders from the BRICS organization, which initially included the six emerging-market economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, before expanding earlier this year to include five new members of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, and Ethiopia.

The upcoming summit will be the first to be held since the group's expansion, with many believing the growth of the organization will enable more countries' voices to be heard on the international stage.

The Global South, which carries a roughly 40 percent share of the global GDP and accounts for 85 percent of the world's population, is experiencing a rising importance in global affairs, and many see the expansion of BRICS as an opportunity to provide more balance against the Western-dominated international order.

The inclusion of the UAE, meanwhile, provides the Gulf nation with the chance to build more global connections, according to a researcher from the country.

Shotlist:
Saudi Arabia - Oct 16, 2024:
FILE: Soweto Township, Johannesburg, South Africa - Aug 15, 2023
1. Sign of BRICS;
FILE: Xiamen City, Fujian Province, east China - Sept 7, 2021
2. National flags of BRICS countries;
FILE: Brasilia, Brazil - Oct 17, 2019
3. National flags of BRICS countries;
FILE: Soweto Township, Johannesburg, South Africa - Aug 15, 2023
4. National flags of BRICS' countries;
India - Oct 16, 2024
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Aravind Yelery, professor of Nehru University:
"Any expansion would mean that there is more voices to those who were unheard, more voices to those people who were left out in the process of integration.";
Saudi Arabia - Oct 16, 2024
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Riz Khan, journalist of Al-Arabiya (partially overlaid with shot 7):
"One of the key things that BRICS and particularly BRICS Plus brings is a chance to counter what has been a very strong Western domination across the global order. For countries like Saudi Arabia, this makes a massive difference in having trading partners that come with some equality from the East as well.";
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FILE: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - December 2022
7. Aerial shots of cityscape;
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FILE: Cape Town, South Africa - Aug 29, 2023
8. Containers, vehicles at port;
FILE: Egypt - Date Unknown
9. Various of port scene, containers, trucks, vessel;
UAE - Oct 16, 2024
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Najla Al Zarouni, senior researcher of UAE Trends Research and Advisory Center (partially overlaid with shot 11):
"The greatest, I would say, interest for the UAE to join the BRICS is to maybe provide more connection and more joining of the dots from all around the world. And so it's a good time for now to maybe have the UAE to enhance the BRICS and maybe make it more mature, of having such an international player, I would say worldwide.";
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FILE: Dubai, UAE - Date Unknown
11. Aerial shots of cityscape;
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FILE: South Africa - 2023
12. 15th BRICS Summit banners on street, traffic;
FILE: Johannesburg, South Africa - Aug 19, 2023
13. Various of street, posters of BRICS Summit.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]