The BRIC group of countries are meeting in Sanya, China this week - the third annual meeting of the leaders of this group. The Summits are becoming more formal and more substantial as side-events are held in the lead-up to the Summits, but where is civil society?Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) will officially expand to include South Africa when they meet on the 14th and 15th April. The meetings began in Russia, where held last year in India and are now being hosted by China. On the agenda are issues ranging from international economic concerns to development and climate.
Ahead of the meetings, there was a BRICS Think Tank Seminar that took place in Beijing on the 24-25th March and there will be a BRICS Business Forum on the 13th and 14th April as well as a Banking Cooperation Mechanism meeting on the 12th and 13th April.
The BRICS meeting is looking more like a G8 and G20 as salellitte meetings are held around the main event. But where is civil society? There does not appear to be much information on the advocacy around these meetings from groups working on development and environmental issues in BRICs countries. It is critical to advocate strong stances on key concerns as this group is growing in power (and members) and will be an important venue for setting the global agenda.