Identity of BRICS

Turzi said BRICS currently neither had a permanent secretariat nor served as a formal international organization. It was necessary for the bloc to set up a secretariat, making it act as a real "executive committee" for all developing countries, the scholar said.

Sidiropoulos said the rotating system adopted by BRICS featured a free and feasible decision-making procedure, allowing members to reach consensus on specific issues and providing an outlet for their demands.

But if BRICS was aimed at addressing global issues, a concrete executive body for coordinated actions was needed, she said.

Ma said, though the grouping had yet to serve as a formal international organization, it was highly promising.

Looking at the development path of many international multilateral organizations and mechanisms, it usually took time for a fledgling organization to take shape, Ma said.

Vladimir Portyakov, deputy director of the Far East Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the annual BRICS summit had already lent institutionalized characteristics to the bloc.

On top of that, BRICS held meetings among foreign, agricultural and financial ministers and promoted communications among experts and entrepreneurs. These efforts had greatly enriched inter-BRICS cooperation, he said.

Marcos Sintra, an expert with the Institute of Applied Economic Research, said the BRICS mechanism was still in its infancy, entailing strengthened dialogue and communications among member countries.

Sintra said, when it came to cooperation areas, priority should be given to economy over politics to extend and deepen cooperation progressively.