BRICS cooperation conforms to historical trend: Xi

BRICS countries have vowed to deepen cooperation in broad aspects, including economy, anti-terrorism and anti-corruption, and to enhance the voice of emerging economies globally.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa attended the summit held in the city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province, and released the Xiamen Declaration on Monday.

With profound and complicated changes taking place in the world, cooperation among BRICS countries becomes all the more important, Chinese President Xi Jinping said while addressing a plenary session at the ninth BRICS summit on Monday.

"BRICS cooperation meets the common requirements of our five nations for development and conforms to the historical trends," Xi said, underscoring the common pursuit of partnership and prosperous development despite different national conditions.

"We recommit our strong support for multilateralism and the central role of the UN in international affairs," the declaration said, adding that BRICS nations commit to strengthening coordination and cooperation among BRICS in areas of mutual and common interest within the UN and other multilateral institutions.

"One country alone can't alter the global framework, but when BRICS, a cluster of developing and emerging countries, unite together under the mechanism, they could gain great benefits," Wu Baiyi, director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Russia, for example, benefited a lot from the BRICS mechanism when it had conflict with European countries last year, and China has received support from other BRICS nations as well on the South China Sea issue, Wu said.

Lead and share

BRICS leaders reaffirmed that they remained committed to an open and inclusive world economy and firmly opposed protectionism.

"We will continue to firmly oppose protectionism. We recommit to our existing pledge for both a standstill and a rollback of protectionist measures and we call upon other countries to join us in that commitment," the declaration said.

Globalization has met the biggest crisis as leading nations are setting globalization back, but developing countries cannot survive without globalization as they continue their development process, Wu said.

"The BRICS bloc will lead globalization now and will continue to share the benefits of globalization to other nations," Wu added.

Meanwhile, the leaders strongly deplored the latest nuclear test conducted by North Korea in the Xiamen Declaration.

"We express deep concern over the ongoing tension and prolonged nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, and emphasize that it should only be settled through peaceful means and direct dialogue of all the parties concerned," it said.

The BRICS leaders also supported efforts to enhance cooperation on anti-corruption given the negative impact of corruption on sustainable development.

Corruption, including illicit money and financial flows, and ill-gotten wealth stashed in foreign jurisdictions, is a global challenge which may impact negatively on economic growth and sustainable development, said the document.

In the declaration, the leaders also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

"As the BRICS nations all have a wealth gap, corruption might become a bottleneck in their economic development, so putting forward anti-corruption is very necessary and timely," Li Xing, director of the Eurasian Studies Center at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Building the mechanism

The BRICS and the surrounding programs like BRICS Plus have become a new cooperation mechanism for emerging countries around the world, experts said.

This time, the summit is emphasizing building a mechanism on specific cooperation programs and management personnel, and this will help implement bilateral or multilateral agreements, Chen Fengying, an expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

"The summit will also create a new development mechanism among developing countries, and this mechanism will accept more nations in the future," Chen told the Global Times, adding that there will be mechanisms in e-commerce, counter-terrorism and finance, and a people-to-people mechanism.

Xi also said China will set aside 500 million yuan ($76 million) for economic and technological cooperation and exchanges among BRICS countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The BRICS mechanism is now at a turning point, evolving to a mature phase. The BRICS summit in Xiamen gives a blueprint for future cooperation direction," Wu said, adding that BRICS countries are at similar stages of development and share the same goals on the global stage.

Along with the summit, the BRICS Cultural Festival will also open on September 15 in Xiamen, featuring more than 200 artists from the five countries with more than 30 performances.

Supported by different civilizations, cultural and creative exchange cooperation among countries can "transfer the equality of civilizations rather than conflict," Wu told the Global Times.

"Moreover, people-to-people exchanges among those five BRICS countries will be a new future cooperation trend, which offers public support for BRICS summits in the next decade," Wu said.

(L-R) Brazilian President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Jacob Zuma and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose for a group photo during theBRICS Summit at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province on September 4, 2017. Photo: Xinhua