Emerging economies have a constructive effect on the international landscape, President Hu Jintao said in a joint interview on Wednesday and called on the international community to look at these countries from a "long-term and strategic perspective" and "actively support their development".

According to Xinhua News Agency, Hu responded to interview questions jointly written by BRICS country media organizations concerning the fourth BRICS summit, on Wednesday and Thursday in New Delhi.

Hu praised the BRICS countries' achievements in their cooperation and in world economic growth, before proposing two areas in which more efforts should be made to build a solid foundation among the group.

BRICS groups five emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which joined the group in 2011.

"We should beef up the existing cooperative programs in the spirit of practicality and efficiency and build a number of flagship projects," Hu said.

"We should properly explore new areas of cooperation in light of the needs of economic and social development in BRICS countries, tap the potential cooperation and inject new vitality into the mechanism of BRICS cooperation," he added.

The fourth BRICS summit is being held against the backdrop of continued changes in the international situation, uncertain prospects of global economic recovery and the rising status and role of emerging markets and developing countries in international affairs.

Yao Zhizhong, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily that the different impact made by the expanding emerging economies and the declining traditional economies will soon become apparent.

A report by the International Monetary Fund has forecast that from 2012 to 2013, the economic growth rate of emerging economies will be 5.75 percent, compared with 1.2 percent in developed economies.

"Emerging economies are making greater contributions to the growth of the world economy," Yao said.

Hu said the development of emerging economies is "conducive to a more balanced world economy, more reasonable international relations, more effective global governance and more durable world peace".

"The steady increase of their representation and the greater say they acquired in global economic governance has moved the international order in the direction of greater fairness and rationality," Hu said.

China hopes that the summit will "help strengthen the institutional building of BRICS cooperation, map out plans for the future, and lay a solid foundation for the long-term growth of BRICS cooperation," said Hu.

In the past year, BRICS countries have vigorously implemented the Action Plan of the Sanya Declaration and expanded their cooperation in wide-ranging areas of finance, industry, commerce, health, agriculture, statistics, science, technology and think tanks, thus bringing tangible benefits to their peoples and further reinforcing the momentum of BRICS cooperation.

According to Yao, cooperation among the emerging economies has great potential because they are all experiencing domestic transformation and still in the process of building a complete economic system.

Currently, the major trading partners of the emerging economies are mostly developed countries, but the trend will see increased trading activities among the emerging economies themselves, said Yao.

The increased voice from the emerging economies in international systems will also help defend the interests of the developing countries, said Yao.

Hu also called the BRICS countries the "defender and promoter of the interests of developing countries."