More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the five-nation BRICS group. But to challenge the US-led global hierarchy, the BRICS first need to overcome internal fissures. In this interview with Al Jazeera, SAIIA’s Senior Researcher Gustavo De Carvalho says ‘the de-dollarisation initiatives of the BRICS, as a group, are not aimed at replacing the dollar but at creating alternatives to facilitate bilateral trade in local currencies’.