BRICS is the association of the most-developed emerging national economies, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. BRICS countries have a combined population of 3.1 billion people — which is around 40 percent of the world’s population — and $40 trillion of combined nominal GDP — making up more than 20 percent of world’s gross domestic product. China is the largeest member of BRICS in terms of population, nominal GDP and exports value, making it the unofficial leader of the association. The first BRICS summit was held in Russia on June 16, 2009 and later gathered annually, alternating among all of the BRICS countries. The latest BRICS summit in 2017 was held in China and hosted by Xi Jinping, the upcoming BRICS Summit in 2018 is planned for July 25-27 and will be hosted by Cyril Ramaphosa in South Africa. BRICS summits are influential macroeconomic gatherings and, arguably, the most important event for the internation politics of developing countries.