Aleksandar Vučić was absent from the BRICS summit in Russia, saying that he had important diplomatic business with the representatives of the European Union, but even if they weren't there, he said, he wouldn't go to Kazan.
Serbia is represented in Kazan by four ministers - Aleksandar Vulin, Bratislav Gašić, Nenad Popović and Adriana Mesarović.
On Wednesday evening, Vučić hosted the Polish and Greek prime ministers, Donald Tusk and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and said that it was an opportunity for the interlocutors to exchange opinions on current events in Europe.
The President also announced that the total number of world statesmen he met with by the end of the year will be as many as 70, which the President of the Assembly Ana Brnabić pointed out on the social network X, stressing that "things like this have never happened in our country" and that Vučić's era is remembered as the "Golden Age of Serbia".
When asked about the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the BRICS summit, Vučić said that he had received an invitation, but that he had important guests from abroad. "As the kids say - a crowd in the penalty area," said Vučić.
Political scientist Aleksandar Đokić tells "Vreme" that this move can be interpreted as a concrete signal to Europe.
"I don't believe there would be any pressure if the summit was held in India, for example." Now the UN secretary is being criticized, not because he is attending BRICS, but because he is in Russia. In this sense, the message to Europe is that Vučić is not Putin's puppet and that he does not keep up with him. It is no longer the same relationship as it was before 2022," Djokić says.
BRICS is not the right topic?
Vremen's interlocutor points out that BRICS is not a big threat, because even in the last twenty years it has not had any significant results and successes that we can talk about.
"Rather, we could say that China is a serious challenger to the West, not BRICS." Too much attention is given to it. Serbia, for example, signed a bilateral agreement with China this year. Which is a much more important step in the economic sense and in relation to the EU", says Đokić.
This speaks volumes, he adds, about how much the authorities in Serbia show unwillingness and lack of desire for Serbia to work towards becoming a member of the EU.
"The bottom line is that the importance of BRICS, which presents itself as a geopolitical bloc against the West, is exaggerated, but in fact it is only a group of countries that do not have a common economic or political strategy. They are meeting within a platform that can benefit them on a bilateral level," Đokić believes.
People for BRICS?
Vučić also said that, according to the latest research, 42 percent of citizens in Serbia are in favor of integration with the EU, and 42 percent are with the BRICS group.
However, our interlocutor points out that even if Serbia would like to become part of BRICS, it does not mean that it would be invited.
"Many bigger countries, like Saudi Arabia and Algeria, were rejected," Djokić says.
Vučić added that the attitude of the citizens would change in favor of BRICS if he changed the way in which he declared himself until now, that is, if he stopped advocating for Serbia's entry into the EU.
New members of the association will participate for the first time at the XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan from October 22 to 24.
In addition to Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia have become the countries since this year.
"The formation of a multipolar world in progress"
The final declaration was adopted at this year's summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He pointed out that the declaration is planned to be submitted to the UN as a joint document.
The document will be called the Kazan Declaration, after the city of Kazan where it is being held.
At the opening of this year's Summit, Putin said that "the formation of a multipolar world is underway." The Russian president also highlighted three main areas of cooperation between the BRICS countries.
"We tried to strengthen the authority of BRICS, increase its role in world affairs, in solving pressing global and regional problems, and in every possible way contributed to the deepening of multiple cooperation between our countries in three main areas: in politics and security, economy and finance , cultural and humanitarian contacts," said President Putin.
