BRICS Summit Begins with Goal of Ditching U.S. Dollar...

by Frances Martel at Breitbart

The foreign ministers of BRICS member nations – and another 13 countries interested in collaborating with the anti-Western bloc – convened in Russia on Monday for a meeting outside of the confines of the BRICS annual summit to discuss, among other issues, ways to expand trade without the use of the U.S. dollar.

“The proactive work is underway on fulfillment of decisions of the Johannesburg summit of the last year, specifically as regards improvement of the international monetary system and development of a platform for payment in national currencies in mutual trade,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

BRICS held its last annual summit in August in Johannesburg, South Africa, as that nation held the presidency of the organization in 2023. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin chose not to attend on that occasion, as South Africa is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has an outstanding warrant out for Putin on charges of war crimes in Ukraine. Russia holds this year’s presidency and will host the official summit in the city of Kazan in October.

OHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - AUGUST 24: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with fellow BRICS leaders President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of China Xi Jinping, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a family photo, with delegates including six nations invited to join the BRICS group, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, during the closing day of The BRICS summit at the Sandton Convention Center on August 24, 2023 in the Sandton district of Johannesburg, South Africa. The BRICS summit, held in South Africa between 22-24 August 2023. The BRICS group of major emerging economies is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The 15th BRICS Summit, an international relations conference, is being held in South Africa between August 22-24 2023 with the leaders expected to discuss the expansion of the BRICS group and a BRICS currency. It is the first in-person summit of the BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - since the Covid-19 pandemic. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the meetings in person due to the ICC, International Criminal Court issued warrant for alleged war crimes. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with fellow BRICS leaders pose for a photo with new BRICS members at the last day of the summit, held at the Sandton Convention Center in the Sandton district of Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 24, 2023. Included are Xi Jinping, China’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, and Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi (Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images).

The vast majority of international trade is conducted using the U.S. dollar, bolstering the strength of the American currency and leaving nations open to potential sanctions damage. Given the growing number of sanctions imposed on Russia and China is response to a litany of human rights abuses committed by their dictatorships, both countries have spearheaded efforts both in BRICS and beyond to “de-dollarize” their economies, ideally rendering them immune from sanctions…