Recently, a lot has been said about other South American countries joining BRICS. Last year, Argentina was officially included. However, after current president Javier Milei took office, he chose not to join the bloc. Still, that opened the door for other South American countries aiming to grow their presence diplomatically – and commercially.
The government of President Gustavo Petro has expressed a keen interest in initiating discussions about Colombia’s potential accession to the BRICS group. Since taking office, President Petro has been actively seeking to forge new diplomatic relationships, particularly with nations where previous ties were either non-existent or tenuous.
This initiative is part of a broader strategy to diversify Colombia’s diplomatic engagements beyond its traditionally strong alliance with the United States, which has predominantly centred around issues such as narcotics, free trade agreements, armaments, and immigration.
However, the concept of BRICS and its significance in the global order seems to be widely misunderstood within Colombia. This lack of awareness is not limited to the general populace but is also prevalent amongst policymakers, some of whom mistakenly equate BRICS with NATO or fear that joining BRICS would necessitate severing ties with the United States.
“There is a high level of ignorance about the BRICS, some consider it a left-wing bloc or revisionist countries that seek to threaten the leadership of the United States. In that sense, they consider it a more political than economic actor that can damage diplomatic relations with the United States. In other words, many have bought the discourse of a Cold War 2.0 and that is materialised in these actors”, said Professor Manuel Rayran, from the Universidad Externado de Colombia, in Bogotá. Rayran teaches International Relations and spoke exclusively to BGTN.
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Despite this, Colombia appears to satisfy the membership criteria set forth by BRICS last year. Yet, there is a palpable absence of in-depth understanding amongst the country’s political and economic circles regarding what BRICS represents and its role on the world stage.
To bridge this knowledge gap, it is imperative for Colombia to engage in comprehensive discussions involving various societal stakeholders, including the Foreign Ministry, the Congress of the Republic, and academic institutions.
“In this sense, it is necessary that Colombia opens the discussion with all the agents of society, including the Foreign Ministry, the Congress of the Republic and the academia to open the space for debate and discussion.”, says Professor Ryran, “From my reading, Colombia could join the BRICS today because it meets its ideals and requirements, but still lacks a unified decision at the domestic level.
So how is Colombia doing, anyway?
Colombia is a beautiful country, located at an interesting spot in South America. It’s close enough to North America to attract many tourists, and it has access to both the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
According to data from UN Tourism, Colombia was the country that received the most tourists in South America in 2023, with over 4 million people visiting the country.
The economy, which has grown since the Pandemic, despite a small decrease in 2023, is expected to grow by 1,2% in 2024 and as much as 3,3% in 2025, which is the largest growth projection in South America.
However, according to Ryran, the country faces the same issue that most of its neighbouring countries have faced historically – political polarisation.
“South America is a subcontinent that historically has had difficulties in establishing integration or regional organisation processes due to the pendulum swing of the ideologies of the presidents who come to power.” The very situation in Argentina, which was part of BRICS with one president, and not part of BRICS with the next one, is a great example of that”, he says.
“This phenomenon has led to two consequences: the first is that at the domestic level, if presidents do not share their ideological vision with the previous government, they eliminate the processes that the country has carried out in the regional field. The second is that at the international level, governments end up abandoning the organisations and/or delegitimising them. This has made it difficult to establish solid and constant cooperation relations over time.”, concludes the Colombian Professor.
Still, despite all the ideological flair, at the end of the day, many of these countries share the same commercial partners, such as China, Russia and India. Being a BRICS member would straighten the relationship between these countries, potentially generating better deals and increasing competitiveness.
Colombia’s top exports are fossil fuels and extractive industries, followed by commodities such as fruits/vegetables and fish.
The prospect of South American countries joining BRICS presents a potential avenue for increased global influence. However, the inherent volatility of the region’s political climate raises questions about the stability of such an alliance. Moreover, the individual diplomatic agendas of each country suggest that a collective regional approach may remain elusive.
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