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The summit centered on expanding alternative economic, financial, and trade interactions between member countries, tensions in the Middle East, the Russia- Ukraine war, and the recent and future expansion of the organization. [...] The first half of the summit was devoted to the “Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security” gathering of member countries, and the second half was dedicated to “BRICS and the Global South: Building a Better World Together.” Notably, India and China eased border tensions prior to the summit, while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did not attend due to an in. [...] During the summit, Russia introduced the BRICS Cross-Border Payment Initiative; however, the development is in its infancy, and not all countries in the BRICS favor China and Russia leading the financial and trade infrastructure. [...] This means BRICS should not be considered a challenge to Western-led global institutions but rather serve as a reminder to the latter of the need to tackle existing deficiencies, to pick up the pace, and to work on addressing grievances in the global south to prevent a further wave of desire for an alternative world order led by authoritarian states. [...] (Lana Pedisic is a Research Fellow at the International Development Research Network.) Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy or the position of the Prospect Foundation.