Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert at the Renmin University of China, said the BRIC Summit has a "substantial and substantive" significance as "a new-born non-Western cooperation framework between the four biggest emerging economies of the world", creating a reasonable balance against the dominance of developed countries.

"The imbalance of the world's economic and political order would finally result in a crisis. The world should applaud the cooperation among BRIC countries as it builds up influence to represent the due interests and rights of the developing countries," Pang said.

"BRIC countries will need to build up trust through dialogue to pave the way for close cooperation in future so as to amplify their shared voice", Pang added.

Zhou Zhiwei, Secretary-General of the Center for Brazilian Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said all four countries share the same interest in reforming the international financial system under the current circumstances.

"They can also talk about combating trade protectionism, another common concern," Zhou said, but added it's still "too early" to discuss whether BRIC could form a group of nations.

BRIC nations account for 42 percent of the world's population and enjoyed an average annual economic growth of 10.7 percent from 2006 to 2008.

According to Goldman Sachs, which created the acronym BRIC, the four nations have contributed one-third of the world's growth since 2000.

(China Daily June 16, 2009)