The BRICS were greeted initially with considerable skepticism in some quarters. At first sight, these countries seemed indeed to have little in common. Critics and skeptics were often adamant in pointing out what they believed to be the artificiality of the group, seen by some as merely a Goldman Sachs invention to market investments in the four original members. These doubts were legitimate. Who could deny the enormous differences between the countries—historical, political, economic, and cultural? In practical terms, could these countries really act together in any meaningful way? After all, what did Brazil have in common with Russia, or China with India, or India with Russia?

Coordination problems were undoubtedly very real, and I experienced them firsthand from the very beginning of the process in 2008. Nonetheless, it soon became clear that the BRICS cooperation mechanism had strong potential.

When I came to Washington DC, in 2007, to take up the position of executive director for Brazil and other Latin American and Caribbean countries in the IMF, the BRICS did not exist at all as a political reality. The quota and voice reform concluded in March, for example, whatever its merits, owes nothing to BRICS coordination. At the time, BRICS was indeed a mere acronym created by Jim O’Neill, an economist with Goldman Sachs. But O’Neill had hit on something not only economically but also politically significant.

The process began at the initiative of Russia. Russian officials, at different levels and places, approached their Brazilian, Chinese, and Indian counterparts and proposed that we coordinate our actions, focusing initially on economic and financial matters, and especially international governance issues. This happened in the IMF, the World Bank, at the G20, and in the capitals through Finance and Foreign Ministry channels. The Russian proposal was well received by the three other countries and coordination efforts started right away. South Africa would join later, in 2011.

There are other versions, I note in passing, of how the BRICS began, including in Brazil, with former Brazilian officials claiming that the proposal came from them or jointly from Russia and Brazil. Success has many fathers, as the saying goes.