Emerging big four economies flaunt power at summit

Brazil, Russia, India and China flaunt their unity against more established powers this week as the four emerging economic giants hold the first summit of their grouping, known as BRIC.
But while they will express determination to act together during the current economic crisis and beyond, they are years away from being a counterbalance to established global institutions, analysts say.
It is also unclear whether the presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Hu Jintao of China, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will agree to establish a more permanent international entity.
In any case, Russia will enjoy bragging rights as host of the first formal BRIC summit, which is set to take place on Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, a city some 1,420 kilometers (880 miles) east of Moscow in the Ural Mountains.
"Russia believes this format to be rather promising economically as well as politically," Medvedev's spokeswoman, Natalia Timakova, told reporters this week.
But she reserved judgment on the broader implications of the summit. "It is too early to make any predictions," she said. "We need to see how this first meeting goes."
Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters that the four leaders would adopt a joint declaration calling for the "formation of a more just and democratic world order.”