标签： Suriname

This weekend, leaders of the BRICS bloc of major emerging economies will convene in New Delhi for their annual summit, hosted by India. The gathering, taking place on September 12 and 13, comes as the group continues to grapple with deep internal divisions over a regional conflict that has roiled global markets and strained international alliances this year, marking the bloc’s third attempt to reach a unified consensus on the crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday, setting the stage for talks that will test the bloc’s ability to bridge competing interests. The conflict at the center of divisions is the U.S.-led military campaign against Iran, which joined BRICS as a new member in 2024 alongside the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. The rift has pitted Iran against the UAE, laying bare the competing geopolitical priorities that have long hampered coordinated action within the 11-nation bloc.

Founded in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and the collapse of the WTO’s Doha Development Round, BRICS was created to challenge the post-WWII Western-led international order that emerging economies argued systematically sidelined the interests of the Global South. Nearly 20 years after its formation, analysts agree the bloc has succeeded in making the global order more multipolar, but it has struggled to build a cohesive alternative framework to replace Western-dominated institutions.

Many experts argue that measuring BRICS success by its ability to replace Western-led institutions misses the point of the bloc’s core mission. “We tend to underestimate every BRICS initiative because it is not the revolution we expected,” note Octavio Oliveira and Enzo Godinho, Brazilian researchers at the University of São Paulo’s BRICS Studies Group. “While it lacks the institutional capacity of the United Nations to address major geopolitical issues, its very existence provides a critical platform for Global South nations to amplify their voices and pursue cooperation outside Western frameworks.”

Analysts emphasize that BRICS was never intended to fully displace the Western order, only to offer Global South countries greater negotiating power and alternative pathways for development. “What unites BRICS members above all is the desire to grow their economies through international trade and put an end to the West’s moral lecturing on human rights and democracy,” explains Sean Burges, an associate professor of international studies at Carleton University in Canada. Reform and greater autonomy, rather than overthrowing the liberal international order, are the bloc’s core priorities. Burges questions: “Why would BRICS want to take over the global governance responsibilities of the G7?”

To date, BRICS has delivered tangible alternative channels for trade and investment centered on national development and poverty reduction. China’s model of unconditional development assistance and Brazil’s push for direct currency swaps between central banks are prime examples, Burges says. These initiatives have driven a sharp increase in economic exchange within BRICS and across the broader Global South, while the shift away from aid conditionalities has even pushed traditional Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank and IMF to reform their own practices.

Geopolitical analyst Guy Burton points out that the definition of “the West” has shifted dramatically since BRICS was founded in the early 2000s, creating a more ambiguous landscape for the bloc’s challenge. “The West is fracturing, with the transatlantic alliance between the U.S. and Europe wobbling, so it is unclear exactly what BRICS is challenging — America or Europe,” Burton notes.

While BRICS holds enormous collective economic weight — representing nearly half of the global population, 40 percent of global purchasing power, 44 percent of global oil production, and roughly a quarter of total world trade, with projected 2025 growth of 3.7 percent compared to just 1 percent for the G7, per IMF data — analysts agree its collective global influence remains far more limited than its size suggests.

The bloc’s New Development Bank (NDB), its flagship multilateral financial institution, had only approved around $39 billion in lending by the end of 2024 — equal to just a few months of the World Bank’s total lending commitments. The NDB also raises the majority of its capital in U.S. dollars, and analysts say it has introduced little structural innovation, sharing many core characteristics with existing Western-led multilateral development banks.

The single biggest barrier to BRICS challenging Western economic dominance is the continued global dominance of the U.S. dollar. “Despite widespread rhetoric around de-dollarization initiatives, most BRICS trade is still settled in dollars, and most members hold large dollar reserves, which reinforces the dollar’s position as the global reserve currency and limits members’ policy autonomy,” Oliveira and Godinho explain. While China has promoted wider use of the renminbi and Saudi Arabia has opened up to trade in non-dollar currencies, the dollar faces no serious near-term challenge, a trend Burton expects will hold for at least the next decade. Still, Imran Khalid, a geostrategic analyst, notes that while BRICS as a whole has not abandoned the dollar, individual members are gradually reducing their own dependence in a slow, largely irreversible shift.

Even with these limitations, analysts argue BRICS’ economic contributions should not be discounted. The 2024 expansion that added major oil producers including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the UAE has boosted the bloc’s collective influence, particularly in global energy markets. Chinese investments through the Belt and Road Initiative and other bilateral financing streams have also delivered concrete development and financing alternatives outside the traditional Bretton Woods system.

The bloc’s greatest strength — its broad representation of Global South populations — is also its biggest weakness: deep internal divisions driven by competing national interests. In May, a BRICS foreign minister meeting in New Delhi failed to reach a consensus on the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, ending without a joint statement after Iran pushed to condemn U.S. and Israeli actions, a position the UAE refused to support. Notably, though, all major peace initiatives for the conflict have come from the Global South, not from Western capitals.

Burges argues that BRICS expansion has widened, rather than narrowed, internal divisions. “Expansion increases representation of the Global South, but it dilutes the group’s cohesion,” he explains. Membership gave Iran a new global platform, but that does not mean all BRICS members align with Iran’s positions. “BRICS does not operate on a ‘one for all, all for one’ principle — members deliberately retain their freedom to act independently, which is the opposite of a tightly coordinated geopolitical bloc,” Burton says. While the original smaller BRICS grouping struggled to represent the full diversity of the Global South, expanded membership risks undermining collective action, even as Oliveira and Godinho view growing interest from new members as a positive sign of a shifting multipolar global order.

In conclusion, analysts widely frame BRICS as more a platform for Global South autonomy than a direct challenger to the Western-led order. Without a common currency, unified trade tariffs, or collective defense commitments, it is not a conventional geopolitical bloc. Still, by creating alternative financing channels and facilitating trade outside Western institutions, it gives Global South nations greater room to maneuver between competing great power interests. Most importantly, experts note, it has already succeeded in weakening the effectiveness of Western political and economic pressure on individual developing nations.

After nearly two decades of operational ambiguity, Suriname and Venezuela have formally renewed their bilateral fisheries agreement, closing a long-standing legal gap that had threatened Suriname’s international seafood export access. The original 2007 agreement expired and was never updated, leaving more than 200 Venezuelan fishing vessels that have operated consistently in Suriname’s Atlantic waters without a formal bilateral regulatory framework.

Confusion over the terms of the renewed deal spread late last week after Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez issued an official statement following a meeting with Suriname’s president Jennifer Simons. Rodríguez claimed that 200 new fishing permits would be granted to Venezuelan vessels from the states of Nueva Esparta and Sucre to operate in a designated Atlantic corridor under Surinamese oversight. This wording led to widespread misunderstanding that Suriname would open its waters to 200 additional previously-unauthorized fishing boats.

Parveen Amritpersad, Director of Suriname’s Fisheries Department, clarified the details in an interview with local outlet Starnieuws, stressing that no new vessels are being admitted to Surinamese waters. “This is not an expansion of foreign fishing access – we are simply formalizing the legal status of an existing fleet that has operated here for years,” Amritpersad explained. According to the Surinamese Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (LVV), the renewal only updates the expired permits issued under the 2004 framework for the same group of vessels that have fished in the region consistently.

For years after the original 2007 agreement lapsed, Venezuelan vessels continued to operate through a workaround: permits were issued to Surinamese seafood processing companies under national domestic regulations, and those companies then held working contracts with the Venezuelan fishing fleets. But this structure failed to meet international requirements, which mandate that foreign-flagged fishing vessels operate under a valid bilateral government-to-government agreement. Without this formal basis, Suriname risked sanctions on its seafood exports.

The European Union had repeatedly flagged this gap to successive Surinamese governments, including it in official recommendations as a issue that required urgent correction to address unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Negotiations on renewal had stalled for years, in part due to political hold-ups on the Venezuelan side, but pressure from the EU accelerated finalization of the updated agreement.

The new legal framework is critical to protecting Suriname’s key seafood export sector. Suriname is currently in ongoing talks with the European Commission to demonstrate its progress in combating IUU fishing, and international buyers now require strict proof that all fish caught for export operates under a valid regulatory regime with full traceability. This requirement extends to exports to the United States, where market access rules for seafood have tightened significantly in recent years.

Under the terms of the renewed agreement, all participating Venezuelan vessels must comply with Suriname’s permit rules, including a requirement to land all catches at Surinamese ports for processing by local companies. Two major Surinamese processors, Deep Sea and Caribbean Seafood, already maintain long-term working relationships with the Venezuelan fleets, and all catches are required to be landed at the CEVIHAS port facility before processing and export.

Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez has wrapped up an official one-day working visit to Suriname, returning to Caracas on Friday evening after a trip that has deepened ties between the two South American nations. Invited by Suriname’s president Jennifer Simons, Rodríguez and her delegation arrived in Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital, on Thursday evening, kicking off two days of diplomatic engagement.

On Friday morning, Rodríguez received a formal ceremonial welcome at the Presidential Palace, where the two heads of state and their respective delegations held in-depth bilateral discussions covering a wide range of shared priority areas. By the end of the talks, the two sides had signed nine binding cooperation agreements and one joint statement, laying out a clear roadmap for expanded collaboration across multiple key sectors. The pacts cover agriculture and food security, fisheries and aquaculture, commercial aviation, tourism, oil and gas development, higher education, and specialized professional training.

One of the most tangible outcomes of the visit centers on the fisheries sector. Rodríguez announced that 200 Venezuelan fishermen from the coastal states of Nueva Esparta and Sucre will be granted official permits to operate in an Atlantic fishing corridor designated and made available by the Surinamese government. Beyond fisheries, the two sides also reached agreements to launch new commercial air routes between the two countries and partner up to advance development of their shared oil and gas industries.

During the negotiations, officials also addressed an ongoing legal matter involving Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant PDVSA. The issue centers on a third-party execution attachment placed on PDVSA assets located in Suriname, a dispute linked to the Petrocaribe regional energy compensation mechanism. As of the conclusion of Rodríguez’s visit, legal proceedings on this matter are still ongoing, with both sides confirming they will continue diplomatic engagement to find a resolution.

In a forward-looking proposal, Suriname’s president Simons put forward a plan to convene meetings of the Suriname-Venezuela Political Consultation Mechanism and the Bilateral Joint Commission in the first half of 2027. These established bilateral frameworks are designed to flesh out technical details and drive progress on practical cooperation initiatives outlined during this latest summit.

The official portion of Rodríguez’s visit concluded with a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument of Simón Bolívar, the iconic Venezuelan independence leader, located on Paramaribo’s Central Church Square. Following the ceremony, Simons hosted an official luncheon for Rodríguez and her entire delegation.

Speaking at the conclusion of the visit, Rodríguez emphasized that both nations must now move forward with implementing the newly signed agreements to strengthen commercial integration and deepen long-standing bilateral ties. She also extended a formal reciprocal invitation to President Simons to visit Venezuela at a mutually convenient future date, opening the door for continued high-level diplomatic engagement between the two neighbors.

Twenty-five years have passed since the 9/11 attacks that reshaped global geopolitics, when 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C., killing nearly 3,000 people. What followed that fateful day was a generation of continuous, U.S.-led military conflicts that have left an unrivaled trail of human suffering and economic burden, new data from the Brown University Watson Institute’s Cost of War project confirms. These post-9/11 conflicts have killed an estimated 4.5 to 4.7 million people directly and indirectly, and displaced more than 38 million others across multiple regions of the world.

Less than one month after the 9/11 attacks, then-U.S. President George W. Bush launched what he dubbed the ‘War on Terror’, beginning with the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan codenamed Operation Enduring Freedom. The Taliban regime collapsed within weeks, but the conflict dragged on for nearly 20 years across four consecutive U.S. presidencies, making it the longest war in U.S. history. The Cost of War project estimates that 176,000 people died directly from combat in Afghanistan, with hundreds of thousands more killed indirectly by starvation, preventable disease, and untreated injuries. Food insecurity surged from 62 percent before the invasion to 92 percent after, and unexploded ordnance and landmines continue to maim and kill Afghan civilians decades later. In 2021, as the last U.S. troops withdrew, the Taliban retook control of the country, leaving a fractured nation still grappling with the legacy of war.

Just under two years after the Afghanistan invasion, in March 2003, the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq, built on the false claim that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. For Iraqis who lived through the invasion, the trauma remains unresolved decades later. ‘Everything changed,’ recalled Omar, an 18-year-old university student in Baghdad at the time of the invasion, in an interview with Al Jazeera. ‘We remember the sound of the bombs; we were so afraid. Some of my friends ignored warnings to stay inside and went to see what was happening when the fighting reached the city. I asked them why they would go. They left, and they never came back. It is still devastating to think about.’ According to project data, 315,000 people died directly from combat in Iraq, with millions more dying indirectly from the collapse of healthcare, food systems, and infrastructure. Today, more than two decades after the invasion, over one million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes.

Beyond the two large-scale ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. expanded the ‘War on Terror’ into a sprawling network of air and drone strikes across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, operating in at least 10 countries over 25 years. Data from the London-based non-profit Airwars, which tracks civilian casualties from military operations, and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism documents the scale of these campaigns: since 2004, the U.S. has carried out 423 strikes in Pakistan that killed an estimated 2,499 to 4,001 people, including between 424 and 966 civilians; at least 186 strikes and raids in Yemen have killed at least 853 people, 158 of them civilians; between 2001 and 2016, 19 to 23 strikes in Somalia killed 188 to 276 people. In 2011, the U.S. led a NATO air campaign under a UN civilian protection mandate to oust former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, carrying out nearly 9,700 strikes over seven months before Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebels. In 2014, the U.S. launched Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which relied on heavy air and ground operations that deployed tens of thousands of bombs. While U.S. officials have acknowledged just 1,417 civilian deaths from that campaign, Airwars estimates the true number is between 8,264 and 13,360.

Across all conflict zones affected by post-9/11 wars, the scale of displacement is unprecedented in modern history, exceeding any other conflict since the start of the 20th century. The Cost of War project estimates that more than 38 million people across Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria have been displaced, either crossing international borders or forced to flee their homes within their own countries. Decades after the initial invasions, displacement continues to uproot communities. Last year alone, Iran and Pakistan forced roughly 2.9 million Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan, a country still ravaged by conflict and economic collapse. For many Afghans, repeated displacement has become a permanent way of life. Ayesha, a 40-year-old Afghan mother, has spent most of her life moving between Afghanistan and Iran due to repeated conflict. Her family first fled Afghanistan in 1994, returned in 2000, then fled again in 2002 after the U.S. invasion. After living in Iran for 11 years, she and her children were deported back to Afghanistan. ‘I have gone back and forth so many times,’ Ayesha explained. ‘This last time we stayed 11 years, but then the Iranians deported us and kicked my children out of school. We have no home to call our own anymore.’ (Omar and Ayesha are pseudonyms used to protect their privacy.)

The human cost of the post-9/11 wars extends beyond civilian populations in conflict zones, extending to U.S. and coalition military personnel and veterans who served in the conflicts. Nearly 3,500 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, with more than 23,500 wounded. In Afghanistan alone, 2,500 U.S. troops died and 20,000 were wounded before the 2021 withdrawal; in Iraq, 3,481 U.S. troops died and more than 31,000 were wounded. The long-term costs for veterans are staggering, and a public health crisis of mental illness and suicide persists. By 2050, the Cost of War project projects that healthcare and benefits for post-9/11 veterans will cost the U.S. between $2.2 trillion and $2.5 trillion, much of which remains unfunded. ‘Four times as many U.S. service members and veterans have died by suicide as have died in combat during post-9/11 wars,’ said Stephanie Savell, director of the Cost of War project. ‘Veterans return with far higher rates of PTSD and traumatic injury, and are deployed more frequently than in past conflicts. The costs of war are borne by a small segment of the U.S. population, rather than shared by the public as a whole.’

In total, the U.S. has spent an estimated $5.8 trillion on 25 years of post-9/11 conflicts, with $2.2 trillion more earmarked for future veteran care, bringing the total cost to at least $8 trillion and rising. By 2030, the U.S. will have paid as much in interest on war-related debt as it spent on combat operations themselves, a debt that will be carried by Americans under 25 for decades to come. Public opinion polling shows most Americans oppose endless aggressive foreign wars, and the ongoing conflict in the region remains deeply unpopular with U.S. voters. Savell noted that many voters supported former President Donald Trump in part because he promised to end ‘endless wars’ and campaigned on a platform of peace, but his administration oversaw a sharp expansion of U.S. military violence. ‘That promise has been completely broken since he took office,’ Savell explained. ‘Drone strikes intensified in Somalia and Yemen, rules of engagement were loosened to allow more civilian casualties, and less protection for civilian lives. Beyond launching a new war in Iran, expanded strikes in the Caribbean, U.S. military violence has intensified across the globe.’

In a landmark diplomatic development during an official visit to Suriname by Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez, the two South American nations have signed a sweeping package of cooperation agreements covering key sectors from fisheries to energy, education and connectivity, deepening regional integration between the neighboring countries.

One of the most notable commitments to come out of the talks is a fisheries access agreement that will grant fishing licenses to 200 Venezuelan fishermen from the coastal states of Nueva Esparta and Sucre, permitting them to operate in an Atlantic fishing corridor designated by Suriname. Rodríguez announced the arrangement following bilateral discussions with Suriname’s president Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, noting that the partnership is structured to deliver mutual economic benefits to both nations. Beyond creating livelihood opportunities for Venezuelan fishermen, Rodríguez explained that the deal will open new export pathways for Suriname’s popular fish species including red snapper and lane snapper to the large U.S. market and other international destinations. At the time of the announcement, no further details were released on the exact terms of access, the size and geographic boundaries of the designated corridor, or the regulatory framework that will govern fishing activity in the area.

The fisheries deal is just one of 10 total agreements reached during the diplomatic visit, which includes nine formal cooperation documents and one joint statement signed by the two governments.

In the aviation sector, the two countries have moved forward with concrete plans to reestablish commercial flight connections between their territories, and have agreed to grant fifth freedom rights to airlines from both nations. This regulatory change will allow air carriers to operate routes that pass through each country’s territory, opening up new route options and increasing flexibility for regional air travel. The improved air links are designed to boost bilateral tourism, with both governments committing to bring tour operators closer together and develop joint multi-destination tourism products that draw on the unique attractions of both countries. Rodríguez emphasized that beyond air connectivity, the two nations also need to expand maritime transport links between their coasts, noting that regional connectivity within South America and the Caribbean currently lags behind connections to countries outside the region. The new cooperation agreements are intended to reverse this imbalance and strengthen intra-regional ties.

Another core pillar of the new bilateral partnership focuses on developing Suriname’s growing oil and gas sector. Venezuela, which has decades of experience in hydrocarbon exploration, production and processing, has offered to share its technical expertise with Suriname, and will provide specialized training programs for workers in Suriname’s emerging oil industry. Rodríguez specifically highlighted Venezuela’s leading energy research institute Intevep and the Venezuelan University of Hydrocarbons as key institutional partners, noting that both organizations hold advanced technological capabilities that can be mobilized to support the cooperation effort.

Agricultural development and food security have also been prioritized in the new cooperation framework. The two countries have agreed to align their sanitary and phytosanitary regulatory standards to facilitate agricultural trade, exchange knowledge on animal genetics, and collaborate on advancing regenerative agricultural practices that support long-term sustainability.

In the education sector, Venezuela is opening up new training opportunities for Surinamese students. The Latin American University of Medicine will open its doors to Surinamese students seeking to pursue medical degrees in Venezuela. Additional agreements have been reached for university-level training in hydrocarbons, public health, agriculture and technology, as well as expanded technical and vocational education opportunities for Surinamese learners.

Looking ahead, the next meeting of the bilateral Mixed Commission between Venezuela and Suriname is scheduled to take place in Suriname during the first quarter of next year. Rodríguez extended a formal invitation to President Simons to visit Venezuela in the near future, and thanked the Surinamese government and people for the humanitarian assistance Suriname provided after the June 24 earthquake that struck Venezuela. She also noted that she has a long history of engagement with Suriname, having previously visited the country in past roles as an energy official and Venezuela’s foreign minister for discussions related to the Petrocaribe energy initiative.

On September 11, in a landmark gathering marking half a century of diplomatic relations between the two South American nations, Suriname and Venezuela formalized a sweeping new set of bilateral cooperation agreements during an official working visit by Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez to Suriname’s capital. The signing ceremony, held at the Presidential Palace following high-level talks between Rodríguez and her Surinamese counterpart President Jennifer Simons, saw the two leaders put pen to paper on nine binding cooperation documents and one joint statement that expand partnership across nearly a dozen key sectors.

The agreements cover a wide range of mutually beneficial areas including fisheries and aquaculture, agri-food systems and productive alliances, civil aviation, tourism, oil and gas exploration and development, higher education, specialized vocational training, academic exchange, and diplomatic professional development. Throughout the bilateral discussions, senior officials from both administrations placed particular strategic focus on advancing food security, deepening economic integration, and improving cross-border connectivity. Additional topics on the negotiation agenda included livestock development, bilateral trade and investment promotion, energy security, and regional public safety.

One of the most concrete near-term cooperation priorities discussed is the potential supply of affordable urea fertilizer from Venezuela to Suriname’s domestic agricultural sector. Leaders from both nations emphasized that expanded collaboration in agriculture, livestock, and fisheries will directly strengthen regional food sovereignty, boost domestic production output, and build greater economic resilience for both populations. In her opening remarks during the talks, President Simons noted that while Suriname and Venezuela already share close political and diplomatic ties, it is long past time to bring economic cooperation in line with that strong foundational relationship. “The true measure of our partnership’s success must be tangible, sustainable improvements for the people of both our nations,” Simons stated.

Alongside new cooperation initiatives, the leaders also addressed a long-standing open dispute related to the Venezuelan state-owned oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). The issue centers on a third-party executive attachment order placed on PDVSA assets located in Suriname, which is tied to the Suriname-Venezuela Petrocaribe compensation mechanism. Simons clarified that legal proceedings around the dispute are still ongoing, with no final court ruling issued to date, and asked Rodríguez to share updates on any recent developments from the Venezuelan government side. She reaffirmed Suriname’s commitment to resolving all outstanding bilateral questions through constructive, mutually respectful dialogue.

To strengthen long-term bilateral engagement, the two nations have agreed to revitalize existing bilateral consultation frameworks. President Simons proposed hosting meetings of the Suriname-Venezuela Political Consultation Mechanism and the Joint Suriname-Venezuela Commission in the first half of 2027, where delegates will work out further details for expanded technical cooperation across all agreed sectors.

In her response, Rodríguez thanked the government and people of Suriname for the timely humanitarian assistance Suriname provided to Venezuela following the devastating June 24 earthquake that struck the country. She echoed Simons’ focus on agricultural and livestock cooperation, noting that these partnerships are critical to shoring up food security across the entire South American region. For her part, Simons said Suriname is closely monitoring recent political and economic developments in Venezuela and extended wishes for continued stability and inclusive development for the country. Rodríguez extended a formal invitation to Simons for a reciprocal official visit to Venezuela, though no date has been publicly announced for the trip. Wednesday’s meeting marked the first in-person meeting between Rodríguez and Simons since Simons took office as Suriname’s head of state, and comes 50 years after the two nations first established formal diplomatic relations in 1975.