{"id":145601,"date":"2024-11-07T16:23:09","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T23:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=145601"},"modified":"2024-11-07T16:23:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T23:23:09","slug":"brics-application-demonstrates-akds-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/11\/07\/brics-application-demonstrates-akds-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"BRICS application demonstrates AKD\u2019s Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kadira Pethiyagoda <\/strong>Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Sri Lanka\u2019s application for BRICS membership may be an early indication of President Dissanayake\u2019s long-term vision. It signals shrewdness on the international stage. It has potential to serve the country\u2019s strategic interests through: increased diversity of partners; making Colombo a greater priority for non-BRICS states; and the ability to shape a grouping containing the world\u2019s rising Great Powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has potential to serve the country\u2019s economic interests through positioning Colombo to influence and benefit from new funding sources, financial instruments and the new trading currency the grouping is likely to introduce. It stays true to the non-aligned ethos the NPP was known to have when it was elected. It is also an application with a realistic chance at success because Sri Lankan membership would be a major win for BRICS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits for Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a small state, Sri Lanka\u2019s interests are best served when Great Powers and the institutions they control compete for Colombo\u2019s favour. Membership of BRICS provides Sri Lanka, not only a platform to engage rising powers and assess their offerings, but also incentivizes states outside BRICS to offer Colombo more. Outside states will also see value in wooing Colombo in order to influence BRICS. This is all the more so because, while it has traditionally concentrated on economic cooperation, BRICS is now adopting a more holistic, strategic focus. And despite its internal challenges, of all major international groupings, BRICS arguably has the greatest potential for growth in strategic power. It contains all the big rising military powers, most notably China, India and Russia, who are already three of the four largest military spenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, post-independence Sri Lanka\u2019s overarching foreign policy vision has always involved a world with greater parity between states, particularly between North and South, East and West. The gravest threat to Sri Lanka\u2019s security stemmed from a separatist insurgency that survived, in large part, due to the ability to garner support\/funding from wealthier\/larger states. Greater international equality is thus central to Colombo\u2019s long-term security interests. BRICS\u2019 objective of a multipolar world order (a primary foreign policy goal of its major members), seeks more equality between Great Powers. Joining allows Colombo to shape this objective in a way that benefits not just Great Powers, but also smaller states, i.e. through a flatter international power structure overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certain economic initiatives have significant strategic ramifications. This includes the proposed multicurrency system for cross-border payments, new BRICS currency in the long-term, the \u2018BRICS Pay\u2019 alternative payment system to SWIFT, and the prerequisite that members not sanction each other \u2013 all of which Sri Lanka can influence and mould as a member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In pure economic terms, as a BRICS member, Sri Lanka can benefit from being able to shape existing and future BRICS finance alternatives to the IMF. Colombo can lobby for new sources of loans to not impose the austerity policies known to foist the greatest burdens upon ordinary people (e.g. Argentina etc.), in line with NPP\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits for BRICS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s application is not a frivolous one. As a key theatre for geopolitical competition in Asia, BRICS countries benefit from Colombo\u2019s membership. The island is situated near major sea lines of communication, including directly between two of what the US and China consider critical chokepoints: Bab el Mandeb (entry to the Red Sea) and the Straits of Malacca, connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea and Pacific. Leading BRICS states, particularly China and India, gain from another forum to engage in closer ties with Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Sri Lanka\u2019s membership of BRICS provides a space for China and India to engage Colombo and each other to resolve disagreements over each other\u2019s presence on the island. They are also more likely to do so in the presence of recent Sino-India mediator, Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being dominated by the Eurasian giants \u2013 China, India and Russia \u2013 BRICS\u2019 new members have largely been Middle Eastern and African states. Sri Lanka, as a majority Buddhist, South Asian state would boost BRICS\u2019 appeal to both South and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombo\u2019s importance as a member is also thanks to its formidable military capability, with an army experienced in vanquishing the world\u2019s most powerful insurgent group. Economically, Sri Lanka is a highly suitable candidate with its GDP PPP only 20% less than existing BRICS member Ethiopia. Sri Lanka\u2019s location, natural resources and highly educated population mean it has significant economic potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By seeking to apply for BRICS membership, the Government serves Sri Lanka\u2019s strategic and economic interests. It gives Colombo greater leverage with Great Powers inside and outside BRICS. The latter is particularly true given that BRICS is in the process of blending the geographic and cultural diversity of the Non-Aligned Movement, with a military and economic power soon to surpass the old Soviet bloc. Membership places Colombo at the forefront of opportunities to shape this emerging grouping. From BRICS\u2019 perspective, Sri Lanka promises to be a valuable addition thanks to its location at the heart of Asia\u2019s sea lanes, and its economic and security capabilities. Perhaps most importantly, the decision signifies a confidence befitting the dignity of a nation that has fought for its complete independence four times, and won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Dr Kadira Pethiyagoda is the first Sri Lankan born candidate for Oxford University Chancellor. He is a foreign policy expert, who was a visiting scholar at Oxford, diplomat and ministerial advisor, and is author of Indian Foreign Policy and Cultural Values\u201d (Palgrave). @KPethiyagoda)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kadira Pethiyagoda Courtesy The Island Sri Lanka\u2019s application for BRICS membership may be an early indication of President Dissanayake\u2019s long-term vision. It signals shrewdness on the international stage. It has potential to serve the country\u2019s strategic interests through: increased diversity of partners; making Colombo a greater priority for non-BRICS states; and the ability to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}