From September 12 to 13, the 18th BRICS leaders’ meeting was held in New Delhi, India. Twenty years ago, Brazil, Russia, India and China held their first foreign ministers’ meeting during the UN General Assembly, kicking off BRICS cooperation. Twenty years later, the BRICS cooperation mechanism has grown into the most influential cooperation platform for emerging markets and developing countries in the world today. Standing at a new starting point, how can all parties promote the high-quality development of "Greater BRICS Cooperation"? China will take over the chairmanship of the BRICS next year. How will the next "Year of China" push BRICS cooperation to a new level?
Following the completion of the historic expansion of the BRICS countries in 2024, the BRICS cooperation mechanism will usher in another important meeting. On the first day of the 18th BRICS leaders' meeting, the BRICS countries issued the New Delhi Declaration, emphasizing that they would further strengthen the "three-wheel drive" cooperation in political and security, economic, trade and financial, and people-to-people exchanges after the expansion of the BRICS, while reiterating their commitment to reform and improve global governance.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of BRICS cooperation. Today, 20 years later, the BRICS countries account for nearly half of the world's population, approximately 30% of the world's total economic output, and 1/5 of the world's total trade volume, becoming a veritable first phalanx of the global South.
"Greater BRICS cooperation" has entered a new stage of high-quality development. China proposes that BRICS countries should be the vanguard in promoting innovative development, maintaining peace and stability, promoting mutual learning among civilizations, and reforming and improving global governance, clarifying the historical mission of BRICS cooperation and enhancing its strategic positioning.
Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said in an interview with a reporter from "Lanting Observation" that the "Four Pioneers" cover the reform directions of development, security, mutual learning among civilizations, and global governance, and point out the future development direction of BRICS cooperation. The BRICS countries need to be brave and pioneers, which does not mean they want to fight against the Western-dominated global governance system. We need to build the broadest development consensus among developing countries under the BRICS mechanism, thereby enhancing the participation, representation and voice of developing countries in the process of global governance reform.
Frans Machat, chairman of the National Press Club of South Africa, told the Blue Hall Observer reporter that the expanded BRICS family, as a whole, is committed to promoting world peace and stability. At the same time, we are also concerned about how to promote development, not only for the development of the BRICS countries themselves, but also for the development of the entire global South.
China announces pragmatic measures
Support the unity and self-reliance of the Global South
During this meeting, China announced a series of pragmatic measures to support the unity and self-strength of the global South. In particular, focusing on the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, China announced that China will take the lead in building a BRICS artificial intelligence open source zone, establishing a BRICS digital industry cloud platform, and implementing a BRICS youth science and technology exchange plan to help countries in the global South improve their capabilities and benefit equally.
Song Wei told the reporter of "Lanting Observation" that the current development of artificial intelligence has brought development opportunities to the world, but are algorithms and computing power still dominated by the West? Will developing countries face the risk of missing out on the right to speak in development again? China has given a clear answer to this. China hopes to enhance the independent development momentum of developing countries in innovative development, and hopes to reduce the harm of developing countries to the digital divide of artificial intelligence, thereby promoting developing countries to improve their ability to "overtake around the corner" in the development of artificial intelligence, and further unlock development bottlenecks for BRICS countries.
China will take over the BRICS chair in 2027
At present, the century-old changes in the world are accelerating, the global South is rising, and the BRICS countries are facing both opportunities and challenges. China will take over the chairmanship of BRICS next year and host the 19th BRICS leaders’ meeting. All parties have made it clear that they will fully support the Chinese presidency and look forward to taking BRICS cooperation to a new level in the next "Year of China".
Wang Lei, director of the BRICS Cooperation Research Center at Beijing Normal University, said in an interview with a reporter from "Blue Hall Observation" that during the two decades of development of BRICS cooperation, China has continuously provided various new cooperation concepts and proposed new Chinese plans for BRICS cooperation. These plans and concepts have been recognized and supported by all BRICS member countries. For example, some of the important plans of the BRICS countries to strengthen integrated markets, financial connectivity, infrastructure connectivity, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges actually come from China, making BRICS cooperation truly an important channel and platform for promoting the reform of the global governance system and a major channel for solidarity and mutual assistance in the global South.
Opening up the third "golden decade" of BRICS cooperation
The BRICS mechanism is widely representative and has huge development potential. At the same time, the expanded BRICS countries have different national conditions and diverse interest demands. "Greater BRICS cooperation" needs to find the greatest common denominator in diversity. As the largest economy among the BRICS countries, China once again assumes the chairmanship of the BRICS, which is bound to inject new momentum into BRICS cooperation. In the future, how China can build consensus with all parties, improve the effectiveness of the mechanism, and open up the third "golden decade" of BRICS cooperation will also attract much attention and anticipation for next year's BRICS "Year of China".
Reporters: Huang Huixin, Sun Chaoying, Zhao Yinan
Source: CCTV News Client
