The IBSA is a trilateral, developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation and exchange. The idea of South-South Cooperation (SSC) is not new. Its genesis can be traced back to the decades of efforts by countries and groupings working together to ensure South-South solidarity such as Bandung conference 1955, Non-Aligned Movement 1961, G77 grouping, UNCTAD, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action 1978, and the 2009 Nairobi declaration.

• The forum continues to be a motor for global institutional reforms in the future, striving collectively to establish a rules-based and transparent international trading and finance system.
• By offering a new partnership-based model for development cooperation, the forum has taken a giant step towards accelerating the development agenda of the global South.
• The ‘people centric’ approach is what defines and sets South-South cooperation apart from other partnership models. This particular focus on people-centric social policies is what will help in accelerating the restructuring of international financial architecture and reforming institutions of global governance.

Relevance for India

• The IBSA forum is very important from India’s point of view. Both Brazil and South Africa are important for India, economically and strategically. India has a bilateral trade of around US$ 4.5 billion with South Africa and it is about $2.5 billion with Brazil. Indian companies are acquiring presence in Brazil and South Africa. Participants agreed that diversification of India’s foreign policy is extremely important at this moment. It is very much in India’s interest to give priority to a forum like IBSA. It was felt that, unlike India, the other two countries are regionally united and function in a cohesive regional environment. In that sense, it remains a challenge for India to deal with these two countries.
• The world is changing fast and diverse interests are emerging every day. India must learn to grow in an environment of varieties of regional cooperation, global impacts, etc. IBSA provides the forum for India to interact with important countries in different regions of the world. As an emerging global power, India must understand other countries. India should deal not only with the big powers but also with other regional powers and explore opportunities in every region. For that, India needs to significantly increase its manpower and establishment. In clear strategic terms, it is important for India to build relationships/partnerships around the world.

Limitations and Challenges

• There is a visible lack of coordination among the three member countries. For instance, India faces challenges from Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia; South Africa from Nigeria and Egypt; and Brazil from Argentina and Mexico. Also, the agreements individual members have signed with other international organisations/entities can have an impact on the coordination and functioning of the forum.
• There are several internal issues that haunt the three member countries – corruption, increasing crime rates, political violence, economic inequality, etc., which need to be addressed properly by the individual countries for the forum to be successful.
• The grouping should move in due course from being a forum for dialogue to becoming a vehicle for concrete socio-economic cooperation so that its benefits are shared by the common man as well. Awareness about IBSA is low and needs to be increased. Member countries need to address the limitations and challenges the forum faces, urgently. It remains to be seen how the forum plays a role in the international arena and influences multilateral entities like WTO and the UN.

The forum can grow effectively only if it functions without any hindrances.