The BRICS summit, held in Rio, concluded with a common declaration titled "strengthening Global South cooperation for more inclusive and sustainable governance," in which members showed a renewed willingness to rethink the architecture of international governance.

The text particularly calls for strengthening the representation of the Global South within major multilateral institutions. The BRICS explicitly demand that Brazil and India attain permanent member status on the UN Security Council, underscoring the need for "a reform of the UN system to make it fairer, more effective, and more representative."

Similarly, the declaration emphasizes the need for a rebalancing of decision-making power within the IMF and the World Bank, considering that it is time to "review voting rights to reflect current economic realities."

Beyond institutional claims, the final communiqué highlights several shared axes of action among the group's members, reflecting the willingness to articulate their diplomatic weight on global issues. The main commitments made during the summit are as follows:

◽Climate: adoption of a new cooperation framework prior to COP30, which will be held in Belém in November 2025. This framework aims to harmonize the positions of the Global South on climate policies and increase their capacity to influence international negotiations.

◽Technologies: the BRICS advocate for a more inclusive global governance of artificial intelligence, estimating that Southern countries remain too marginalized in strategic discussions about norms, risks, and uses of this technology.

◽Peace and security: the text calls for a de-escalation of international tensions, condemning recent attacks on Iranian territory (a BRICS member) and attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure. It also expresses support for lasting peace in the Middle East, particularly in Gaza.

With this set of positions, the BRICS seek to establish themselves as a structured collective actor capable of influencing the rules of the global game without necessarily confronting Western powers head-on. This strategy of diplomatic consolidation constitutes the first step towards international autonomy that, to become real, must now materialize in tangible instruments.

Beyond political claims, a more discreet but potentially decisive point emerged from the discussions in Rio: the proposal to create an unprecedented mechanism called BRICS Multilateral Guarantees.

Inspired by the MIGA model (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank), this project seeks to provide investment guarantees for infrastructure and development projects in Southern countries.

The objective is clear: to reduce the perceived political risk for international investors and, in doing so, attract more capital to regions still considered too unstable or unsafe. According to the terms of the communiqué, this structure would be intended to "facilitate investment flows through the Global South, even beyond the perimeter of BRICS countries."

This project is part of a logic of disintermediation concerning large Western financial institutions, but without a sharp break. The communiqué clarifies that it is not a tool reserved for members, opening the way for expanded cooperation.

This pragmatic approach reflects a form of economic realism: the BRICS, despite their desire for emancipation, are aware of the structural limitations of their economies and seek progressive anchoring mechanisms in global circuits. Currently embryonic, the initiative should be the subject of in-depth discussions until 2026, under India's future presidency of the group.

This step towards a parallel financial architecture could have medium-term repercussions on how infrastructure projects are financed in the Global South. If realized, the initiative could offer a true alternative to the guarantees provided by Western financiers while strengthening the economic credibility of the BRICS. However, its success will depend on numerous factors: the volume of financial commitments, governance modalities, and the ability to maintain cohesion among members with sometimes divergent interests. India, which will preside over the group in 2026, will have the heavy task of bringing this ambition to maturity.