Global South experts believe the recent expansion of the BRICS bloc of developing economies is a good thing.
"Any expansion would mean that there is more voices to those who were unheard, more voices to those people who were left out in the process of integration," said Aravind Yelery, a professor at India's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Experts from 40 think tanks were speaking at a Global South meeting, organised by the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the China Media Group.
The gathering, which discussed the future of global development amid an era of great change and turbulence, came ahead of the next BRICS summit which will be held in Russia from 22-24 October.
The bloc of five emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded earlier this year to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia.
The upcoming summit will be the first to be held since the group's expansion, with many believing the growth of the organisation will enable more countries' voices to be heard on the international stage.
The Global South, which carries a roughly 40 per cent share of the global GDP and accounts for 85 per cent of the world's population, is experiencing a rising importance in global affairs.
Many see the expansion of BRICS as an opportunity to provide more balance against the Western-dominated international order.
