BRICS declaration raises eyebrow in European Union

They said the five countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - will face mounting tasks of coordination to put the plan into action.

"I'm quite surprised how long the declaration is and how wide (an area) it covers," said Duncan Freeman, a senior researcher at the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies dais.

"It goes beyond my expectations," he told state-run China Daily at Brussels.