Prime Minister underlines the role of BRICS countries amid the global focus on post covid recovery at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum
Our Bureau
New Delhi/Kolkata
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 14th BRICS summit on Thursday and said that member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa- of the grouping have a similar approach regarding the governance of the global economy.
“BRICS members have a similar approach regarding the governance of the global economy. Our mutual cooperation can make a useful contribution to the global post-Covid recovery,” PM Modi said in his virtual address. The 14th BRICS summit is being hosted by China in a virtual mode.
Prime Minister Modi in his address highlighted multiple areas of cooperation between BRICS nations. This includes an increase in connectivity between BRICS Youth Summits, BRICS Sports, civil society organizations and think tanks. “There are multiple areas wherein through cooperation between BRICS nations, the citizens have benefitted. By increasing connectivity between BRICS Youth Summits, BRICS Sports, civil society organizations and think-tanks, we’ve strengthened our people-to-people connect,” he said further.
BRICS has become a platform for discussing and deliberating on issues of common concern for all developing countries. BRICS countries have regularly called for reform of the multilateral system in order to make it more representative and inclusive.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister underlined the role of BRICS countries amid the global focus on post covid recovery at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum. “BRICS was established with the belief that this group of emerging economies could emerge as engines of global growth. Today, when the world is focusing on post covid recovery, the role of BRICS countries will be very important,” said PM Modi in a recorded keynote speech. “India supports innovation across every sector including drones, green energy and space. By 2025, India’s digital sector value will cross USD 1 trillion valuations,” he said.
The Prime Minister noted that this year India is expecting 7.5 per cent growth. “Which makes us the fastest-growing major economy. Transformative changes are taking place in every sector of emerging New India,” he added.
BRICS is a multilateral forum consisting of five major emerging economies of the world, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Member countries of the BRICS grouping on Thursday issued a declaration stating that they discussed the situation in Ukraine and supported the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. The Beijing Declaration of the XIV BRICS summit issued on Thursday reads: “We have discussed the situation in Ukraine and recall our national positions as expressed at the appropriate fora, namely the UNSC and UNGA. We support talks between Russia and Ukraine.”
“We agree to continue deepening cooperation on competition issues of the BRICS countries and create conditions for fair competition for international trade and economic cooperation,” the declaration read.
BRICS countries also reaffirmed their commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and vowed to promote more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries in global processes.
As Moscow has been facing Western sanctions over its operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on BRICS leaders to cooperate in the face of “selfish actions” from the West.”
“Only on the basis of honest and mutually beneficial cooperation we can look for ways out of the critical situation that has emerged in the world economy because of the ill-conceived and selfish actions of certain states, which, by using financial mechanisms, are actually shifting their own macroeconomic policy mistakes onto the rest of the world,” Putin said in his virtual address.
Putin also pointed out that this is an objective process, since the five countries have a truly great economic, scientific, technological and human potential. They can effectively work together to ensure international stability and security, sustainable growth and prosperity and the well-being of their people.
The Russian president added that Moscow considers the theme of today’s meeting, ‘Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development’, relevant. He drew attention to the fact that the complexity and transnational nature of the challenges and threats the international community faces require a search for collective responses with the bloc’s active participation.
