In the modern world, internationalization of economic life, aka globalization, goes hand in hand with a more far-reaching and concentrated form of international cooperation for which the term "economic integration" has been duly coined.
Among the recently created groups of countries claiming common objectives of an integrative nature is the association of five emerging economies called BRICS — the fanciful abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The latter joined the original grouping of four in 2011 at their third summit in Sanya, China.
Thus, today the pyaterka ("five") includes two Asian countries, one Eurasian ("Mother Russia"), one South American and one African. The BRICS group occupies one-quarter of world land and represents about two-fifths of the planet's population. It boasts a combined nominal GDP of $14 trillion to $15 trillion and an estimated $4 trillion in accumulated foreign reserves.