Reimagining multipolarity: The UAE’s calculated embrace of BRICS

The 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro marks a critical turning point for the grouping and its expanded BRICS+ format, as it transitions from a predominantly economic consortium to a broader geopolitical platform. For the United Arab Emirates, a recent entrant into the expanded bloc, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) represents far more than a symbolic diplomatic gesture. It embodies a strategic hedge, a platform for South-South cooperation, and a vehicle for amplifying Emirati influence in an increasingly multipolar world. As the UAE navigates a shifting global order marked by contested hegemony, rising regionalism, and systemic disruptions, BRICS offers multiple layers of utility across geopolitical, economic, normative, and developmental dimensions.

At its core, the UAE’s BRICS engagement aligns with its broader foreign policy strategy of strategic diversification and multipolar engagement. In an international environment defined by the waning dominance of traditional Western-led institutions and the rise of alternative centres of power, BRICS provides the UAE with a platform to balance between great powers while maintaining policy autonomy. The inclusion of the UAE in BRICS+ allows it to participate in agenda-setting with rising powers such as China, India, and Brazil, while not alienating its long-standing partners in the West.

This calculated hedging is evident in the UAE’s simultaneous deepening of defence and technology ties with the US, while also expanding energy cooperation with China and trade relations with Russia. BRICS membership thus complements the UAE’s pursuit of “positive neutrality” and economic statecraft by offering an additional geopolitical pillar that buffers against over-dependence on any one bloc.

Economically, BRICS is a gateway to enhanced South-South trade, infrastructure financing, and investment flows. According to statements made by UAE representatives at the summit, the country sees enormous potential for deeper trade and investment collaboration with fellow BRICS members. With over 40 percent of global economic output and more than half of the world’s population now represented within the bloc, BRICS offers a massive consumer base and diversified markets for Emirati exports and investments.

The UAE’s financial clout and business-friendly environment make it an attractive interlocutor for countries like India, Brazil, and South Africa that are seeking capital, logistics hubs, and innovation partnerships. As a global trade and logistics hub, the UAE is well-positioned to serve as a BRICS gateway to Africa and the Middle East. Its strategic ports, free zones, and emerging digital economy could become critical nodes in a reconfigured global supply chain, particularly as BRICS+ discussions include the potential use of local currencies in trade to reduce reliance on the US dollar.

The UAE’s participation in BRICS also signals its endorsement of efforts to reform and democratise global governance. The Rio summit’s joint statement, which condemned attacks in Gaza and Iran and called for a more equitable world order, reflects a desire among BRICS members to shape international norms from a non-Western perspective. For the UAE, which has long advocated for reform of institutions like the UN Security Council, the BRICS platform offers a venue to push for a more inclusive, multipolar architecture that recognises the influence of emerging powers.

Furthermore, the UAE’s support for multi-polarity does not imply anti-Westernism but rather seeks pluralism in global governance. The BRICS mechanism allows the UAE to assert normative agency on issues ranging from food and water security to digital transformation and development finance, without being constrained by the rigid ideological divisions of the Cold War era.

Soft power is another vital aspect of the UAE’s BRICS engagement. At the sidelines of the Rio summit, the UAE led a BRICS Youth Talk initiative aimed at fostering global collaboration among young leaders. By promoting intercultural dialogue, entrepreneurship, and innovation among BRICS youth, the UAE is not only investing in the future generation of global influencers but also reinforcing its image as a progressive and globally connected state.

This initiative is consistent with the UAE’s broader emphasis on people-to-people diplomacy, especially through platforms like Expo 2020, its humanitarian engagements, and its championing of tolerance. Through its youth diplomacy, the UAE enhances its global narrative as a modern, forward-looking bridge between civilizations—a critical soft power asset in an age of polarization.

Beyond the multilateral context, the UAE’s BRICS entry has catalysed bilateral engagement, particularly with Brazil. A recent meeting between the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the summit underscored a mutual desire to expand cooperation in food security, renewable energy, and technology. These ties offer both countries the opportunity to co-develop green infrastructure projects and deepen investment in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and aerospace.

Such bilateralism within multilateral frameworks strengthens the UAE’s regional anchoring and allows it to act as a middle power that can broker cooperation across continents. It also aligns with Abu Dhabi’s ambition to enhance its strategic relevance in Latin America, a region traditionally overlooked in Gulf diplomacy.

For the UAE, BRICS is not an end in itself as it is a catalyst for deeper engagement, greater voice, and more resilient global integration. It offers a venue to complement its existing partnerships, rather than replace them. Its utility lies not in creating a rival bloc, but in offering a multipolar platform for innovation, cooperation, and reform.

The BRICS-led NDB (New Development Bank) is particularly attractive for countries seeking development finance outside the traditional IMF/World Bank framework. The NDB’s emphasis on infrastructure, green energy, and sustainable development aligns with UAE’s domestic economic diversification goals under “Vision 2031.” Moreover, the UAE is likely to advocate for expanded financial instruments within the NDB that prioritise climate-resilient and digitally enabled infrastructure projects across the Global South.

As BRICS matures, fostering cooperation in technology and digital governance, including payment systems and AI regulation, will be critical to the bloc’s relevance in an era of technological decoupling. The UAE, with its growing investments in fintech, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, is well-positioned to play a leading role in steering BRICS digital architecture toward inclusive and ethical frameworks.

Lastly, BRICS must create more robust mechanisms for South-South dialogue, especially in food security, migration, and sustainable development. These are areas where the UAE has already demonstrated leadership, and where cross-regional collaboration is not only desirable but essential to long-term resilience and equity.

As BRICS+ continues to expand and evolve, the UAE’s active and purposeful participation signals a broader Middle Eastern recalibration toward multipolar engagement, economic pragmatism, and normative assertiveness on the global stage.

Dr Kristian Alexander is a Senior Fellow at the Rabdan Security and Defence Institute (RSDI), Abu Dhabi, UAE