At present, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the recovery of the world economy, widening the development gap between the North and the South, weakening the momentum of development cooperation, and severely hindering the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As representatives of emerging markets and developing countries, the BRICS countries deepen their strategic partnership, play the role of “stabilizers” and “accelerators” for development, inject BRICS power into the stability of the global market, and provide BRICS momentum for international development cooperation.
“BRICS can play an important role in global economic recovery”
BRICS countries account for 23% of the global economy, 18% of trade in goods, and 25% of foreign investment. They are an important force in the world economy that cannot be ignored. Since the establishment of the BRICS economic and trade ministers’ meeting mechanism in 2011, the leaders of the five countries have given instructions on strengthening economic and trade cooperation for many times, and have successively approved the “BRICS Economic and Trade Cooperation Action Program”, “BRICS Investment Facilitation Cooperation Program” and “BRICS Investment Facilitation Cooperation Program”. Important achievements such as the Brick Economic Partnership Strategy 2025 have pointed out the direction for economic and trade cooperation among the five countries. Economic and trade cooperation has become an important pillar of the BRICS “three-wheel drive” structure.
In recent years, the BRICS countries have maintained a good momentum of cooperation in the economic and trade field, making important contributions to improving global economic governance, promoting global economic recovery and high-quality development. Since 2009, China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner. According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2021, the trade volume between China and Pakistan will be about US$164 billion, a record high; in the same year, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia will be US$146.887 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.8%; It also reached US$125.6 billion, which is the first time that the bilateral trade volume has exceeded the US$100 billion mark; last year, the total trade volume between China and South Africa reached US$54.35 billion, a year-on-year increase of 50.7%…
Sha Haili, a professor at the Center for China Studies at the School of International Relations, National Islamic University of India, said that in the past few years, the growth rate of exports between BRICS countries has exceeded the global average. Strengthening economic cooperation and realizing common development is the original intention and main line of BRICS cooperation, which is rich in content and huge potential.
After 2017, China once again assumed the presidency of the BRICS countries this year. As one of the important economic and trade activities in the BRICS “Year of China”, at the end of April this year, the “Buy in the BRICS” event and the live streaming of BRICS featured commodities were officially launched. Statistics show that as of May 12, China’s major e-commerce platforms have accumulated sales of over 270 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 133.5%. During the event, Chinese coffee companies signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with their partners, planning to purchase a total of 45,000 tons of coffee beans with a value of about 1.5 billion yuan from Brazil from 2023 to 2025. Bussani Nkaveni, Dean of the National School of Government of South Africa, said that in the face of the challenge of the epidemic, the cooperation between the BRICS countries is very valuable and will play a catalytic role in promoting regional development.
In March 2018, the BRICS New Development Bank (hereinafter referred to as the “New Development Bank”) approved a loan of US$50 million to the Brazilian state of Pará for the construction of sustainable urban development projects. Today, the project is over 60% complete. Rui Cabral, Minister of Urban Development and Public Works of the State of Pará, said that after the completion of the project, the construction of sanitation, roads and communication infrastructure in 9 counties and cities along the Trans-Amazon Highway in the State of Pará will be improved, and about 34 10,000 residents will benefit, “cooperating with the New Development Bank, we have obtained funds, and this project will play a role in the balanced development of the local economy and society and poverty eradication.”
In the next five years, the New Development Bank will also provide 30 billion US dollars of financial support for member countries, of which 40% will be used to slow the process of climate warming. All along, China has continued to promote the deepening of pragmatic financial and financial cooperation among the BRICS countries, urged the New Development Bank to speed up the formulation of its second five-year strategy, continue to expand its staff, and continuously improve its internal governance. The theme of high-quality development of economy, society and environment, and carry out knowledge sharing and experience exchange in the field of infrastructure investment.
“At present, fighting the epidemic and promoting economic recovery are the keys to global development.” Senegalese economist and professor at the School of Economics and Management at the University of Dakar, Idrisa Diandi, said, “Cooperation is to avoid deep-seated crises and promote economic growth. The best way to develop. The BRICS countries occupy an important position in the global industrial chain, and through economic cooperation, the BRICS countries can play an important role in the recovery of the global economy.”
“The trend of digitalization provides important opportunities for BRICS countries to achieve technological breakthroughs”
The digital economy is an important direction for the development of the world economy. In recent years, the BRICS countries have attached great importance to the development of the digital economy and have continuously expanded opportunities for digital economic cooperation. In November 2020, the BRICS countries formulated the “BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2025”, and the digital economy has become a key area of cooperation among the BRICS countries.
The digital transformation of the manufacturing industry is the general trend, which is in line with the industrial development direction of the Brick countries. In September last year, the BRICS New Industrial Revolution Partnership Innovation Base was officially unveiled in Xiamen, Fujian, which greatly promoted the BRICS countries to promote practical cooperation in digitalization, industrialization, innovation and other fields, and jointly achieve higher-quality and more resilient development. . Since the beginning of this year, the innovation base has integrated the resources of BRICS countries, established and improved an efficient operation mechanism, and added brilliance to the BRICS “China Year” by carrying out cooperative research with think tanks, holding seminars, and selecting demonstration projects.
On May 23, at the 6th BRICS Industry Ministers Meeting, all parties conducted in-depth discussions on the theme of “deepening innovation cooperation in the field of the new industrial revolution and promoting a stronger, healthier and more resilient sustainable development”, and jointly published The Joint Declaration of the Sixth BRICS Industry Ministers Meeting. The joint declaration proposes to encourage the BRICS countries to deepen industrial cooperation, jointly create an open, fair, dynamic and resilient development environment, build a stable, safe and mutually beneficial industrial chain and supply chain cooperation system, and promote the accelerated recovery and growth of the industrial economy.
“Currently, the BRICS countries have a good opportunity to use their own system and mechanism innovation to build a new pattern of global development.” Fradkov, president of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the arrival of a new round of industrial revolution means that the industry will introduce a lot of information Technology and artificial intelligence will also be popularized. “The trend of digitalization provides important opportunities for the BRICS countries to achieve technological breakthroughs.”
Ashraf Patel, a digital economy expert at the Institute for Global Dialogue, a South African think tank, said that the digital economy will play an important role in the recovery of the world economy. Under the BRICS cooperation mechanism, member states can obtain cutting-edge technologies through exchanges and cooperation, thereby promoting industrialization and advancing the fourth industrial revolution.
Relying on the momentum of the domestic super-large market and the rapid development of the digital economy, China is actively promoting the cooperation of the BRICS countries in the digital field to facilitate sustainable development. In response to the challenges of the epidemic, emerging businesses such as digital economy and e-commerce online shopping in China and Brazil are developing rapidly. In the future, the two sides will actively explore cooperation in emerging fields such as online economy, Internet of Things, and new energy. Through cooperation with Chinese enterprises, South Africa has become the first in Africa. A country that has achieved 5G commercialization and has taken a leading position in the field of 5G development in Africa. Farhad Nisar, an expert in the field of communications from South Africa, believes that African countries and China have a profound history of cooperation, and the BRICS cooperation mechanism provides a platform for further deepening cooperation. As Africa and China continue to cooperate in the fields of communication, Internet and digital economy, Africa’s digital economy is expected to achieve new development.
“The growing influence of genuine multilateralism on the international stage”
As a representative of emerging markets and developing countries, strengthening solidarity and cooperation with emerging market and developing countries is a fine tradition of the BRICS countries, and it is also an inevitable path for the development and growth of the BRICS mechanism.
The recently released Joint Statement of the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on “Responding to New Characteristics and Challenges of the International Situation and Strengthening BRICS Solidarity and Cooperation” further expressed support for emerging market countries and developing countries to expand and increase their participation in international economic decision-making and rules Develop a process, call on the international community to strengthen partnership, and stress that to push the world economy out of the crisis and achieve a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery, macro policy coordination must be strengthened to support openness, transparency, fairness, inclusiveness, and non-discrimination a rules-based multilateral trading system.
DeAndy said that the current geopolitical turmoil, Cold War mentality and unilateralism threaten global development, and many emerging economies have placed high hopes on the BRICS cooperation mechanism. The economies and populations of the BRICS countries are huge, and the BRICS cooperation mechanism provides developing countries with opportunities to expand cooperative partnerships and contribute to more just global economic governance.
Encourage all parties to reach the “BRICS Initiative on Strengthening Supply Chain Cooperation” and the food security cooperation strategy as soon as possible, make good use of the energy research cooperation platform, and maintain the safety and smoothness of the industrial chain and supply chain; rely on the New Development Bank and the emergency reserve arrangement mechanism to improve developing countries. Financial resilience; build the BRICS digital economy partnership to enable industrial innovation to empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries; propose development initiatives and strategies for the BRICS partners, open up ideas and innovate methods, rely on the BRICS mechanism to deepen the connection, complement each other’s advantages, and achieve Multiplier effect… As the presidency of the BRICS countries this year, China has successfully held more than 60 meetings and activities so far. Ministerial officials of the five BRICS countries exchanged in-depth views on cooperation in the fields of industry, culture, aerospace, and education, and reached broad consensus. , and released a number of outcome documents, which were highly praised by all parties.
Paul Robert, a researcher at the BRICS Policy Research Center in Brazil, said: “Through years of practical cooperation, the BRICS countries have increasingly expanded the influence of genuine multilateralism on the international stage, providing a platform for developing countries to cooperate and develop.” He expects the BRICS countries to play a greater role in maintaining and practicing genuine multilateralism and promoting global economic recovery and sustainable development.
Tighten the ties of cooperation, deepen the integration of interests, make the cake of cooperation bigger and bigger, and make the forces of progress stronger and stronger. The solidarity and cooperation of the BRICS countries will surely contribute to the early global victory over the epidemic, the realization of economic recovery and development, and the maintenance of world peace and stability, so that the BRICS mechanism will radiate new vigor and vitality.