BRICS focuses on co-operation

The inception of an innovation centre is a testimony to BRICS countries’ focus on development and cooperation.

Ushering in a new era for greater BRICS co-operation, BRICS countries have been pooling more efforts in such areas as digital economy, green development and supply chains.

The New Development Bank (NDB) set up by BRICS has delivered impressive achievements since its establishment nine years ago. Headquartered in Shanghai, it has cumulatively approved loans of $35 billion for more than 100 projects.

Through the years, BRICS countries have created a variety of platforms, notably the BRICS Media Summit, the BRICS Seminar on Governance, the BRICS Civilization Dialogue, and the BRICS Young Leaders Forum, to facilitate dialogue and communication among officials, scholars and youth.

In the multicultural city of Kazan, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his BRICS colleagues will chart the course for “greater BRICS co-operation”.

During the three-day summit, the leaders are expected to forge consensus on consolidating joint efforts for common development, push for vibrant multilateral co-operation, and offer their wisdom for building a better world for all.

“Our main goal is to provide an understandable and very clear service platform for BRICS and BRICS plus countries ... to enter the Chinese market,” said Mekhri Aliev, executive director of the Institute for Digital Economy and Artificial Systems (IDEAS) at BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) Innovation Center.

While addressing the 12th BRICS summit via video link in November 2020, Xi announced China’s plan to set up an innovation centre in Xiamen, a city in China’s eastern province of Fujian, for a BRICS partnership on the new industrial revolution.

After the innovation centre was launched a month later, IDEAS became one of the first projects promoted and signed by the BRICS PartNIR Innovation Center.

Besides advancing BRICS collaboration, the innovation centre has been devoted to nurturing talent.

Since 2023, it has held more than 10 training sessions, drawing more than 100 participants from across over 70 countries. Among them, sessions tailored for the eight priority areas of the Global Development Initiative were particularly popular.

The BRICS mechanism provides great opportunities for the development of countries and that of qualified human resources, said Jose Orlando Gomes, an industrial engineering professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

“We need to train our new talents ... and we need more cooperation to have a sustainable future.”

The inception of the innovation centre is a testimony to BRICS countries’ focus on development and cooperation. Ushering in a new era for greater BRICS co-operation, BRICS countries have been pooling more efforts in such areas as digital economy, green development and supply chains.

“We need to promote development and prosperity for all,” Xi said in a speech read out by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao at the BRICS Business Forum 2023, adding that with perseverance, hard work and huge sacrifices, many emerging markets and developing countries succeeded in gaining independence, and “everything we do is to deliver better lives to our people.”

Today, a growing number of countries are applying for BRICS membership, and many show huge interest in participating in BRICS co-operation for the benefit of their people. Thailand, among others, announced its application in June.

“Joining BRICS will benefit Thailand in many ways, including advancing cooperation with other developing countries and increasing its influence in the international arena,” said Tang Zhimin, director of China ASEAN Studies at the Bangkok-based Panyapiwat Institute of Management.

BRICS “has become an engine of growth for the world economy and plays an important role in global policymaking,” Tang said.

The NDB is a flagship project of BRICS co-operation supported and promoted by Xi. As the first multi-lateral development bank established by emerging economies, the NDB provides financing support for infrastructure development, clean energy, environmental protection, and the building of cyber infrastructure across BRICS countries.

During talks with NDB President Dilma Rousseff in October 2023, Xi said that as an important emerging force in the international financial system, the NDB should play its due role, and build itself into a new-type multi-lateral development institution in the 21st century that works to make the international financial system fairer and more equitable and effectively enhance the representation and say of emerging markets and developing countries.

Cape Times