How can 'greater BRICS' achieve high-quality development?

Editor's Notes : Cai Tongjuan is a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.

The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN .

As the 2026 BRICS Summit unfolds in India, cooperation among the "greater BRICS" is entering a new stage.

The expansion of BRICS has added not only more members, but also larger markets, richer resources, deeper industrial complementarities and greater strategic depth.

The key question is not simply how to expand cooperation, but how to turn scale into quality and potential into sustainable growth.

From an open macroeconomic perspective, the top priority is to make trade and investment more convenient, stable and rules-based.

BRICS members differ in development stage and comparative advantage, which creates favorable conditions for building a more resilient regional production network.

Tariff and non-tariff barriers should be further reduced, while customs procedures, inspection and quarantine standards, logistics and payment systems should be better coordinated.

Greater use of local currencies and cross-border payment cooperation can also lower transaction costs.

At the same time, trade policy communication should be strengthened to reduce regulatory uncertainty and create stable expectations for businesses.

Only when goods, capital, technology and people move smoothly can the benefits of the expansion be fully realized.

This is also why the initiatives proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit matter.

At the summit, Xi put forward a set of cooperation proposals, including the trade and investment facilitation initiative, which proposes to establish a BRICS special economic zone partnership, under which countries can set up an intelligent portal, coordinate policies, and build a new frontier for open development.

Such proposals provide a practical pathway for turning the "greater BRICS" from an expanded platform into a more efficient engine of growth.