“…Today, the activity of the BRICS (South Africa became a member of the bloc in 2010) is estimated in two ways: supporters of the Alliance see the potential in the growth of influence on the situation in the world relations; critics have noted the lack of collaborative activities and their political orientation. [3,4] In our opinion, the following facts reconfirm the potential of development of the Alliance: 1) "over the past 10 years, the share of the BRICS in world GDP has increased from 12 to 23% and from 11 to 16% in the world trade." [5]; 2) the similarity of the "factors hindering the development of the BRICS countries -inadequate infrastructure, corruption, bureaucracy, problems with the availability of financial resources, inflation, tax rate" is preserved [6,7]; 3) expanding range of areas of cooperation, according to the annual summits of the BRICS countries (tab 2).…”