In preparation for hosting the 18th BRICS summit in Delhi this weekend, India came up with a slogan which tried to keep the group's brand intact without alienating its many new members.
"Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability" matches the acronym for the body's five original members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — whilst also denoting goals which the new members — Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates — can get behind.
"It's an elegant way to reinterpret BRICS so that the acronym represents a joint mission rather than country names," Mihaela Papa, director of the BRICS Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told DW.
For Sushant Singh, lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale University, the vague slogan reflects India's desire as hosts to keep BRICS as low-key and neutral as possible.
"India doesn't want to offend Russia or China, but the fact is that Indians are looking more towards the United States these days. The desire to build up BRICS is not there."
