BRICS ready for bigger global role

Xiamen summit expected to pave way for deeper cooperation, analysts say

Guests leave the opening ceremony of the BRICS Political Parties, Think Tanks and Civil Society Organizations Forum in Fuzhou, Fujian province, in June. [Photo/XINHUA]

During the summit, which will be held in coastal Xiamen from Sunday to Tuesday, President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum and deliver a keynote speech, reviewing the progress that the BRICS countries－Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa－have made in the past 10 years and looking to the future.

Xi will chair a small meeting of BRICS leaders, discussing the world economy, global governance, international and regional hotspot issues and national security and development. A larger meeting will focus on deepening cooperation and promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges, as well as enhancing institution building.

Leaders from five other emerging markets and developing countries－Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand－will attend the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries during the summit and engage in dialogue with the BRICS members.

The dialogue will focus on deepening cooperation and promoting common development, and a statement will be released on the outcomes achieved on implementing a sustainable development agenda, promoting South-South cooperation, building partnerships and improving global governance.

The BRICS leaders will also attend the opening ceremony of the BRICS Cultural Festival and Photo Exhibition, a meeting of the BRICS Business Council and a signing ceremony, which will be followed by a welcome banquet hosted by President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan.

China wants to build stronger partnerships within and beyond the five BRICS countries during the Xiamen summit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

China expects outcomes in several areas, including strengthening economic and security cooperation, increasing cultural and people-to-people exchanges and enhancing institution building, as well as promoting stronger partnerships with other emerging market countries and developing countries, he said.

"It is in the interests of all sides to strengthen cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries through the BRICS platform. Therefore, China has proposed the 'BRICS Plus' concept based on past experiences," Wang said while introducing the Dialogue of Emerging Markets and Developing Countries.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that through the dialogue between BRICS members and representatives of other developing nations, the China-proposed BRICS Plus mode aims to enlarge the "friends circle" of BRICS and build the world's most influential platform for South-South cooperation.

"BRICS belongs to not only the five member countries, but also the whole of developing nations and emerging markets," he said.

Wang Lei, director of the Research Institute for BRICS Economies at Beijing Normal University, said BRICS has become an important force to lead the world's economic growth and improve global governance.

New BRICS-led institutions, such as the New Development Bank, have become a helpful complement to current financial agencies including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, he said.

The members of BRICS represent emerging markets and are the voice of the world's developing countries.

Strong economic growth means the BRICS nations are now key players in the world economy and in global governance. Together, the five accounted for 23 percent of the 2016 global economy, almost double their share in 2006. The five have been the source of more than half of global growth in the past 10 years.

The emerging markets' cooperative mechanism was initially launched in 2006 with four members－Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa was admitted in 2010. The group's first summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.

China holds the rotating presidency of BRICS this year. In a letter sent on Jan 1 to Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Jacob Zuma, Brazilian President Michel Temer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi called on BRICS nations to deepen their partnership for a brighter future.

In the letter, Xi said that the Xiamen summit will focus on the four aspects of deepening pragmatic cooperation for common development; enhancing global governance to jointly counter challenges; carrying out people-to-people exchanges to consolidate public support for cooperation; and promoting the building of a broader partnership.

BRICS cooperation will usher in its second "golden decade" as long as the five members make joint efforts for closer ties with the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win, Xi said while meeting with heads of the delegations for the 7th Meeting of BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in late July.

On July 8, Xi called on the BRICS members to establish an open world economy, maintain a multilateral trade system and push forward open, inclusive, beneficial, balanced and win-win economic globalization, when he presided over an informal meeting of the BRICS leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

While meeting with the BRICS foreign ministers in Beijing in June, Xi said that BRICS countries should push forward international order to develop in a more fair and reasonable direction. The BRICS members are facing similar tasks of maintaining stability of development, he said.

The BRICS countries' leaders should work together for an open world and firmly oppose protectionism in all forms, Xi said in his speech at the BRICS Summit in Goa, India, in October last year.