Witness

In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big players in the world economy. That’s when he came up with the name BRIC - short for Brazil, Russia, India and China. At first, nothing much happened. But in 2009, those countries took his idea and ran with it, holding their first summit. Since then, the group has grown, adding South Africa to form BRICS.There are now 11 members, and it’s been making headlines again, as U.S President Donald Trump threatens tariffs. Jim O’Neill speaks to Megan Jones about coming up with the acronym almost by accident and how he didn’t think he’d still be talking about it almost 25 years later. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine war