The five developing nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – issued a joint statement on Monday, stressing the need to “redress North-South development imbalances” and to “firmly oppose protectionism” – a clear challenge to US President Donald Trump's policy of tariffs to bring manufacturing jobs back home.

The bloc also confronted the monopoly of the West's post-war Bretton Woods global finance institutions. 
 
They pledged to “foster a global economic governance architecture that is more effective and reflective of current global economic landscape, increasing the voice and representation of emerging markets and developing economies.”

The declaration also addressed the West's proxy war on Syria – now approaching its end after six years – and the nuclear stand-off in the Korean Peninsula.