Why does BRICS become the foundation of a new type of iernational relations? – Mehr News agency RCO News Agency
According to Mehr news agency, quoted by BRICS TV, the BRICS group was initially formed as an economic alliance focusing on security and developme issues. However, today, in order to achieve effective ieraction, member states have to rethink and shape a new system of social and human coordinates.
Cultural cooperation in BRICS
The first poi that researchers poi out in examining BRICS iercultural cooperation is the difference in ierests and values. These differences are not related to the curre common goals of the couries of the global south, but to the cultural and civilizational foundations that have been formed throughout history. However, this is more of an advaage than a weakness. The greater the cultural differences among the members of this group, the greater their mutual ierest. In such a situation, what the researchers refer to as “symbols of empathic complemearity” emerges.
This process has led to the formation of extensive cultural programs, exchange of artists and cultural activists, folklore groups, writers, studes and university professors. In this way, art and education become bridges between civilizations. Since 2015, the governmes of the BRICS member couries put the mission of shaping the cultural dimension of this alliance on the agenda; including holding meetings of the ministers of culture and tourism developme. Since then, both the geography of BRICS has expanded significaly and the scale and depth of iercultural dialogue within this framework has increased.
At the same time, experts describe the existence of a developed iercultural and civilizational dialogue within a group that originally had an economic nature, a unique and even exemplary phenomenon.
Niklai Parkhitko, associate professor of the Departme of Journalism Theory and History of Roden University and PhD candidate in historical sciences, said in an exclusive ierview with BRICS TV: Cultural dialogue is the factor that distinguishes BRICS from all other alliances such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN and the G20. Culture is something that binds people together for ceuries; Not only humans, but couries and even coines. I can confidely say that the cultural dialogue in the form that takes place in BRICS is an exemplary example of this type of ieraction at the level of iernational communication.
Iercultural dialogue as the basis of the multipolar world
It is not without reason that experts consider the strategy of developing people’s diplomacy as one of the most successful approaches today. In an exclusive ierview with BRICS TV, Ruslan Gerbenov, vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Global Processes of Moscow State University, emphasizes that culture, education and diplomacy are key elemes in the formation of a common value and normative space in BRICS and compensate for the initial heterogeneity of this group. In addition, human cooperation creates stable social bonds, mutual trust and shared meanings, which ultimately lead to increasing the legitimacy of decisions made at the iergovernmeal level.
He says: Such cooperation will help to establish BRICS as an actor in the polyceric world order. As a result, culture, education and diplomacy will elevate the ieraction between our couries from the level of mere ierests to the level of BRICS ideity and ensure the long-term sustainability of this group.
Historical background and noteworthy pois
Political scieists poi out an ieresting historical poi: BRICS humanitarian cooperation is taking shape in a relatively specific historical coext. In most cases, member couries of this group have not faced serious conflicts throughout their history, except for some limited and occasional eves.
Niklai Parkhitko said in an ierview with BRICS TV: We can look at the ieraction of our cultures. Today, the strategic relations between Russia and China have reached an unprecedeed level. The same applies to Russia’s relations with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia or Indonesia.
In practice, BRICS today has a unique historical opportunity to build relationships based on mutual trust; including through institutions of soft power and popular diplomacy.
Institutions of soft power
BRICS is based on the principles of multipolarism, respect for the sovereigy of governmes and national ierests, consensus and the absence of any discrimination. In fact, all these principles are the characteristics of soft power; A power that has been manifested not only in occasional eves, but also in the form of specific institutions.
Among these institutions, we can meion the iernational cultural forum “BRICS about the future”, which brings together the ministries of culture of the member couries, and its purpose is to create a cultural environme based on universal human values. Another example is the BRICS Iernational Urban Forum; An annual eve that deals with the developme of tourism, architectural solutions and the creation of “receptive” spaces. Also, in September 2025, Brazil hosted the second BRICS Forum eitled “Traditional Values”, which was attended by represeatives of parliames, economic activists, cultural figures and NGOs from the member couries. The BRICS Youth Summit is another example that brings together young leaders, innovators and erepreneurs.
According to experts, these forms form the basis of deeper convergence, reduce the risk of conflict and strengthen the collective status of BRICS.
The language of culture
At the same time, to strengthen bonds within this group, a single language is often used that generally does not require translation; The language of art. In September 2025, Moscow hosted the 8th Iernational Festival of Theater Schools of BRICS couries; An eve that was recognized as the first innovative platform for cross-cultural exchange between theater universities of differe couries in the field of performing arts and public diplomacy.
Since 2016, the BRICS Film Festival has been operating as a platform for cultural exchanges and is hosted by the BRICS presiding coury every year. In the program of this festival, films from member couries will be shown.
In addition, exhibitions related to BRICS are held in differe parts of the world. In 2024, Russian museums held a joi exhibition about China, which featured collections from museums in the Russian Federation. Two years before that, the Russian House in Italy hosted the art exhibition “Russia and BRICS in the cultural dimension; It was the new art of the new world” that the diplomatic missions of the BRICS couries participated in its preparation.
Iercultural exchange coinues through sports competitions. The BRICS Games, as the flagship sports project of this group, have included national and traditional disciplines such as Brazilian Capoeira, the ancie team game of Kabaddi from India and Chinese Wushu in differe years.
Education and science
Iernational scieific cooperation in BRICS is linked with issues such as promoting science, improving public scieific literacy and attracting young tales in research activities. The result of this approach was the formation of BRICS Science Promoters Forum, which is held with the aim of exchanging experience. In couries like India and China, this field has been developed with the support of the governme, and in Russia there are various formats, including scieific lectures, festivals and research expeditions.
Experts believe that despite some challenges, scieific and technological cooperation as a part of humanitarian diplomacy has a high capacity. The main axes of this cooperation include monitoring and preveion of natural disasters, water resources, new and renewable energies, geomatic developme and astronomy.
Considering that education is one of the most promising areas for the expansion of BRICS ieractions, the Russian delegation proposed the establishme of a BRICS network university in 2013. This university operates as a network of higher education institutions of member couries, and based on it, joi educational and research programs, stude and professor exchanges, and coinuous cultural exchanges have been formed.
Niklai Parkhitko explains about this: In joi educational projects, the mission of the BRICS Network University is for couries to know each other better; South Africa should know about Brazil, Brazil about China, China about Russia and Russia about India. This mechanism is an executive tool that helps bring closer positions, mutual understanding and developme.
At the same time, the mission of this university goes beyond cultural convergence and focuses on educating a new generation of capable, creative and critical thinking professionals. Ruslan Gerbanov believes that this process means building “BRICS social capital”; Capital that is formed in the form of transnational networks of future elites, experts and public figures, who will become BRICS ambassadors and bearers of its values and policies in the long run.
Culture and tourism
BRICS member couries are also developing cultural cooperation between cities. The idea of creating a network of municipalities to become ceers of tourism, gastronomy and creativity was first proposed in 2018. However, the BRICS Cities of Culture partnership has gone beyond this idea and has become a group of cities that promote the exchange of experience in urban manageme with a focus on connecting cities and regions of member and partner couries.
In the same framework, the Iernational Urban Forum of the BRICS couries was held in Sai Petersburg in 2025 and brought together more than 5 thousand participas from about 100 couries. The main focus of this meeting was the creation of a comfortable environme compatible with the environme and the developme of smart cities. The designers of the projects were inspired by the experience of their Chinese couerparts and the “15-minute city” idea; A city where all basic needs are available within a short distance. However, discussions in such forums usually go beyond urban planning and include areas such as automotive, investme, health, education, tourism and culture.
iercultural relations; Challenges and prospects
According to experts, the main challenge of iercultural dialogue developme in BRICS is cultural diversity. Despite the mutual ierest, this factor, along with language barriers, sometimes preves a complete mutual understanding between the represeatives of the member states. The BRICS couries are vast and distinct civilizations with differe values, histories and worldviews, and finding common pois and common approaches for dialogue, especially with the simultaneous presence of ten couries, requires considerable effort. Language differences also require accurate and delicate translation, and the possibility of misunderstanding and distortion of the meaning cannot be completely ruled out.
Gerbanov believes: the main challenge of dialogue in the background of historical and political tensions is to overcome two obstacles at the same time; Rooted images of the past and curre geopolitical coests. This requires maiaining a delicate balance between principled adherence and the pragmatic search for consensus. The success of dialogue depends more on the ability of actors to realistically self-evaluate and create new frameworks of ieraction than on formal mechanisms.
Finally, the degree of success of the BRICS member couries in facing these challenges will determine the future of the idea of creating a stable system of iernational relations; An order based not on force, but on mutual respect and mutual understanding. According to experts, the BRICS platform itself has become a kind of laboratory where the basic principles of the world’s coexistence in the form of a single global system are currely being formed.
