Overall, Kirton said the BRICS summit had a comprehensive agenda.

“A very long agenda – 50 paragraphs – is as broad as the G8. Much broader than just the G20, so it’s way ahead of the G20 in the breadth of the concerns it deals with. And thus it’s able to make the linkages, which are more difficult for G20 to do,” he said.

One of the linkages made at the BRICS summit was how the Iran nuclear issue could trigger much higher fuel prices and affect the global economic recovery.