Developing countries are trying to gain muscle to combat pressure from the industrialised nations.
BRIC, the economic bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, is now seeking to rope in Mexico, South Africa and Indonesia as members to strengthen its voice, a senior government official has said.
The move comes at a time when G-20 has emerged as the main forum for economic policy discussions and G-8 a strategy forum for developed countries.
The new grouping of developing countries is seen to be doing a similar job in the years to come. While it will be used to firm up strategy, the group of seven developing countries will also be a strong force that put up a joint position at forums such as G-20 meetings. BRIC is already a discussion forum for its four members and discusses strategy and position on various issues. For instance, the group was to meet on the sidelines of the Toronto Summit on Saturday but in the absence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the meeting could not take place.
Apart from BRIC, India is also part of IBSA, which has Brazil and South Africa as the other members. In the past, there has been a talk on getting China to join the forum but no headway has been made so far.
The IBSA Dialogue Forum, a coordinating mechanism for South-South cooperation, was launched in June 2003 after a meeting of G-8 members in Evian, France.
