WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- The concept of the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- was coined five years ago in a research paper from the Goldman Sachs investment bank.

This week, reality takes over from theory as the foreign ministers of the BRIC countries hold their first formal meeting in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. They convene with an agenda that includes the issue of biofuels, food security, global financial trends and the impact of the slowdown of the U.S. economy.

They also want to discuss the way in which the global economy is governed, which seems to mean that they understandably want a much bigger role in the key institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and so on.

Or perhaps they would prefer, given the West's long dominance of these bodies, to forge some new institutions of their own.

If this week's meeting is to be the first such BRIC summit, they certainly could afford to build almost any institution they choose. China is sitting on foreign exchange reserves of more than $1.5 trillion, and Russia has more than $500 billion, India close to $300 billion and Brazil around $200 billion.