ASIATODAY.ID, DAVOS — French President Emmanuel Macron has urged the Group of Seven (G7) to abandon bloc-style thinking and “build bridges” with BRICS, warning that growing global fragmentation risks paralyzing the world economy.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on January 20, 2026, Macron said France — which assumed the rotating G7 presidency this month — wants to revive effective coordination within the Western-led group while actively engaging emerging powers, including BRICS and the G20.
“Fragmentation of this world would not make sense,” Macron said, calling on major powers to prove they can still deliver shared economic assessments and commit to concrete global action.
Founded in 2006, BRICS now represents more than a quarter of global GDP and nearly half of the world’s population, with ten member states: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
Its expanding influence has increasingly challenged the dominance of Western-led economic forums.
Macron stressed that Paris does not want the G7 to morph into a geopolitical counterweight to rising multipolar blocs.
“The G7 should not be an anti-China club or an anti-BRICS club,” he reiterated, echoing remarks made earlier this month ahead of his planned February visit to India, which will hold the BRICS presidency this year.
Cooperation — With Conditions
Despite his conciliatory tone toward emerging economies, Macron did not shy away from criticizing Beijing.
He accused China of failing to open its market to the same extent as the European Union and of flooding Europe with goods rather than investments and technology transfers.
Against the backdrop of escalating trade tensions and what he described as “Asian overcapacities,” Macron urged the EU to strengthen its trade defense instruments to protect strategic industries.
The message from Davos was clear: dialogue over division, but not without safeguards.
As global power continues to shift, Macron’s remarks signal a growing unease within the West — and an acknowledgment that excluding BRICS is no longer a viable strategy in a multipolar world. (RT)
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