BRICS Alliance Expansion

Members of the media may directly contact the following experts:

Nour El-Kadri (English and Arabic)

Part-time professor, Telfer School of Management

Email: nelkadri@uottawa.ca

Professor El-Kadri have worked in Politics in Egypt with the National Democratic Institute of Washington D.C. and has closely followed the Saudi Arabia and Iran initiatives with China and their potential of joining the BRICS Alliance.

“The BRICS alliance will drive Economic diplomacy to a higher level by bringing about peace and addressing the challenges between Egypt and Ethiopia on one hand and Iran and Saudi Arabia on the other.”

Bao Anh Nguyen (English and French)

Part-time professor, Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences

Email: bnguy095@uottawa.ca

Professor Nguyen can comment from the angle of economic development and international economics.

“Overall, while alliances have the potential to contribute to economic growth, promote investment within the alliance, and global GDP, the specific outcomes will depend on how the new BRICS collaborate, including the goals, the commitment of the parties involved, and the broader economic and geopolitical context. A new challenge seems to be emerging for the Western world.”

David Gray (English and French)

Associate professor, Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences

Email: dmgray@uOttawa.ca

Professor Gray can talk about the state of the Russian and Chinese economies.

“The economies of China and Russia, two of the 4 original members, are faring very poorly right now. The reasons for Russia’s weakness are quite apparent, while China is facing a highly unstable property / real estate market, which poses a huge risk to their financial system. Xi Xingping’s model for dealing with COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a model to be emulated. Then there is the perpetual problem of a very high youth unemployment rate. At the moment, I would say that neither paradigm is attractive.”