Kazan, a millennium old city on the banks of the Volga River, will host the first offline meeting of BRICS leaders after its expansion.
In the year of the opening of the "Greater BRICS Cooperation", BRICS countries have joined hands in solidarity, injected new impetus into common development through pragmatic cooperation of mutual benefit and win-win results, and contributed their wisdom and strength to building a better world.
To enable the people to live a happy life
We need to provide a clear service platform for the BRICS and 'BRICS+' countries to help them enter the Chinese market, "said Mehri Aliyev, Executive Director of the Digital Economy Research Center of the BRICS New Industrial Revolution Partnership Innovation Base (referred to as the" BRICS Innovation Base "), to reporters.
In November 2020, President Xi Jinping announced at the 12th BRICS Leaders' Meeting the establishment of the BRICS New Industrial Revolution Partnership Innovation Base in Xiamen, Fujian Province. The Digital Economy Research Center is one of the first projects promoted and signed by the BRICS Innovation Base.
In addition to serving as a bridge for cooperation among BRICS countries, the BRICS Innovation Base is also committed to cultivating various talents for BRICS cooperation. Since 2023, the base has held over 10 offline training courses, attracting more than 100 students from over 70 countries to participate. Among them, courses designed for the eight key areas of the Global Development Initiative are particularly popular among students.
The BRICS cooperation mechanism is not only beneficial for national economic development, but also for talent cultivation, "said Jose Orlando Gomes, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In order to promote the development of emerging fields," we need to use the BRICS platform to carry out talent cultivation cooperation.
The construction of the BRICS Innovation Base is a vivid example of the anchoring of development cooperation among BRICS countries. In the first year of the "Greater BRICS Cooperation", from building service platforms to carrying out talent training, from hosting the BRICS New Industrial Revolution Partnership Forum to holding BRICS digital economy docking and exchange activities, BRICS countries aim to promote common development and continuously deepen cooperation in multiple fields such as digital economy, green development, and supply chain.
The BRICS cooperation carries the expectation of developing countries to work together towards prosperity and strength. As President Xi Jinping said in his speech at the closing ceremony of the 2023 BRICS Business Forum, "Emerging market countries and developing countries have gone through countless hardships and gained national independence. Everything they do is to enable their people to live a happy life
Nowadays, the "friend application list" of BRICS is becoming longer and longer, and many countries have expressed their willingness to participate in BRICS cooperation in various forms and achieve better development.
Thailand announced its application to join BRICS in June this year. We believe that joining the BRICS will benefit Thailand in multiple ways, including promoting cooperation with other developing countries and enhancing its influence on the international stage, "said Tang Zhimin, director of the China ASEAN Research Center at Thailand's Charoen Pokphand School of Management. The BRICS cooperation mechanism" has become an engine for world economic growth and plays an important role in global policy-making.
Building a community of shared future for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes
More than 100 projects and a total loan amount of approximately 35 billion US dollars... This is the impressive "report card" submitted by the New Development Bank of BRICS countries in its 9 years of establishment.
The New Development Bank is a flagship project of BRICS cooperation that President Xi Jinping personally cares about and promotes. As the first multilateral development bank initiated entirely by emerging economies and developing countries, the New Development Bank provides financing support for the development of infrastructure construction, clean energy, environmental protection, digital infrastructure, and many other fields in BRICS countries.
In October 2023, President Xi Jinping met with Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank, and pointed out that "as an important emerging force in the international financial system, the New Development Bank should play its due role, build itself into a new type of multilateral development institution in the 21st century, promote the development of the international financial system towards a more just and reasonable direction, and effectively enhance the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries.
The New Development Bank not only creates a platform for fair development, but also provides an effective "toolbox" for financial governance. It safeguards the economic development of BRICS member countries and makes unique contributions to the improvement and development of the global economic governance system.
In recent years, from urban railway projects in India, to green wind power projects in Brazil, and to highway projects in China, the New Development Bank has enriched South South cooperation practices with efficient and pragmatic cooperation models, established multilateral cooperation models, and taken solid steps to promote the improvement of global governance.
At the end of August, the New Development Bank signed a 5 billion rand loan agreement with the South African Transport Corporation to support the modernization of the freight railway sector in South Africa. Using the South African rand to finance development projects in South Africa is a manifestation of the New Development Bank's support and promotion of local currency financing in member countries.
Local currency financing is more in line with the interests of emerging markets and developing countries, and also helps to enhance their financial resilience. Expanding local currency financing among BRICS member countries is one of the main strategic goals of the New Development Bank at the current stage. Using the local currency is a strategic choice, "said Rousseff. The goal of the New Development Bank is to increase the proportion of financing in member countries' currencies to 30%.
Starting from 2021, the New Development Bank has accepted Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay as new member countries, continuously moving towards a global multilateral development bank and enhancing the influence of emerging market and developing countries in the global economy.
Shaping a more just world order
Cooperation, collaboration, participation, and solidarity with the global South - these are the key words of BRICS in the eyes of Saudi journalist Tamara Abuaraud. She believes that BRICS has brought many "forgotten countries" back to the international perspective and made their voices heard.
At the 15th BRICS Leaders' Meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa last year, President Xi Jinping advocated for the BRICS countries to make good use of various mechanisms, deepen cultural exchanges, and enhance people to people connectivity by promoting the spirit of inclusiveness, advocating peaceful coexistence and cooperation among different civilizations, and respecting the modernization path independently chosen by each country.
From the BRICS Media Summit to the BRICS Governance Seminar, from the "BRICS Civilization Dialogue" series of activities to the "BRICS Opportunities" Youth Exchange Dialogue, BRICS countries continue to move towards building a harmonious and symbiotic future by creating dialogue platforms and building communication bridges.
The First Vice President of the Russian State Duma and the President of the Russia China Friendship Association Melnikov said that the BRICS people to people and cultural cooperation has constantly achieved new results, promoted people to know each other, and laid a solid foundation for cooperation between each other.
In the view of Vasily Pushkov, Director of the International Cooperation Bureau of the "Russia Today" international media group, the BRICS cooperation mechanism is a symbol of a multipolar world and a representative of diverse interests and civilizations. The BRICS countries should continue to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, enhance mutual understanding and dialogue among civilizations, and continue to amplify the voice of the 'Global South'.
Over the past year, the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Dialogue with Developing Countries and the BRICS High Representative Dialogue on Security Affairs with the Global South have been held successively. The BRICS countries have spoken out for justice and peace on the Israeli Palestinian issue, strengthened policy communication and position coordination in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, and made unremitting efforts to enhance the representation and voice of developing countries, contribute wisdom to addressing common challenges, and promote the development of the international order towards a more just and reasonable direction.
British scholar Carlos Martinez said that the vast majority of people in the world expect the global governance system to become more balanced and representative, and the BRICS cooperation mechanism, which upholds the principles of equality and inclusiveness, is driving this process.
act in unison. The expanded "BRICS" promotes deep interaction and mutual benefit among countries in the global South, working together to build a community with a shared future for mankind and injecting more strength into world peace and development.