Russia will host the 16th BRICS summit from October 22 to 24 in Kazan, marking the first-ever summit since the bloc's membership doubled from five to 10. 

The now 10-member bloc was initially a four-member one established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China with the aim of establishing a new cooperation mechanism that represents the strengths and interests of emerging market countries. The four countries gave the group an acronym based on their initials: BRIC.

It witnessed its first expansion in 2010 when South Africa joined the bloc, and the acronym was changed to BRICS. The second expansion came in January, when the bloc expanded its membership to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Ethiopia.

Data from the World Bank show that as of 2023, the bloc accounted for 27 percent of the world's GDP and 45 percent of the population. With the addition of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran, BRICS includes three of the world's largest oil exporters and constitutes 42 percent of the global oil supply, according to the Netherlands-based investment bank ING.

With multiple countries, ranging from Cuba and Syria to Malaysia and Türkiye, having expressed interest in joining BRICS, the significance of the grouping is set to increase in the coming years.

Wang Youming, director of the Institute of Developing Countries at the China Institute of International Studies, said that the scale and appeal of the bloc effectively enhance its international influence, making it an important force for profoundly changing the international power structure.

Noting that the establishment and expansion of BRICS show the developing countries are unwilling to continue being sidelined in international matters and refuse to be the "silent majority," Wang said that with more countries applying to join the bloc, they will work together to seek a more equitable, just and multi-polar international order.

To realize its goal of building a new cooperation framework that represents the strengths and interests of emerging market countries, the bloc has developed several mechanisms over the past 18 years.

Ranging from leaders' summits and ministerial meetings to cooperation in dozens of fields like the economy, energy, trade and technology, the bloc is widely seen as a constructive force in promoting world economic growth, improving global governance and promoting democracy in international relations.

Data from the New Development Bank, which was formally opened in 2015, shows it had approved at least 98 projects in BRICS member countries as of July 2023, with a total investment of about $33.2 billion. Those projects covered areas including clean energy, transport infrastructure, environmental protection and digital infrastructure.

Wang also noted that in the past few years, the BRICS countries fought for the reasonable and deserved rights of developing countries in areas like geopolitical hotspot issues, climate change, food security, disease prevention and control, and IMF quota reform.

It's those efforts that have helped dispel the doubts of developing countries, especially some in the Global South, that the emerging powers would only look out for their own interests in the competition against the Western bloc and that the interests of the smaller countries would be ignored, Wang said, adding that those efforts also attract more developing countries to the BRICS.