Just what the world needs: another talking shop. The four “Bric” countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – this week joined the G2 and the G20, not to mention the G7 and G8, in the eternal quest for the perfect communiqué.

It is easy to scoff at the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s claim that Yekaterinburg, where the four leaders met, is now the “epicentre of world politics”. That is a laughable description of a gathering that owes its existence to the Goldman Sachs economist who came up with the acronym.