Recently, the 16th BRICS Summit concluded in Kazan, an ancient city by the Volga in Russia. As the bloc’s first meeting since its expansion of five new members in BRICS, the event drew attendees from more than 30 countries, safeguarding the stability of greater BRICS collaboration in the long run.
the 16th BRICS Summit concluded in Kazan, Russia on Oct. 24 [source: xinhua]
BRICS, first proposed as the term “BRICs” in 2001, has been evolving along the way. But the enlargement of BRICS membership last year, and the beginning of the greater BRICS cooperation have garnered much more attention from the international community than any previous iterations. Among them, many developing countries have spoken highly of it, which can be proven by over 30 countries wishing eagerly to join BRICS. In contrast, comments from certain western countries reflect an entirely different tone.
[source: Gallup international]
Seeing the increasing influence of BRICS, some western politicians and scholars have changed their attitudes — from scrutinizing, condescending, and defaming, to anxiety and resistance. They worry that BRICS may become a platform and a tool for “anti-west” deeds.
However, if one looks a little further into BRICS, he would find such worries groundless. Firstly, more than half of the BRICS member countries, including Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India, are allies and partners of the U.S. and its western friends. These member countries are vividly against building BRICS into an anti-America and anti-west organization.
Secondly, BRICS is a new type of international organization, and in their discussions and negotiations, the members uphold equality, consensus, mutual respect, inclusiveness, and openness, which determine that BRICS won’t become a tool amenable to any particular country. Thirdly, after the expansion of its membership, BRICS has polished its profile as a representation of the “Global South” and a new platform for South-South Cooperation. The current members are mostly beneficiaries of the current order, and the philosophy of BRICS is not to overrun existing institutions, but to drive the current international order toward a fairer and more reasonable direction.
the 16th BRICS Summit [source: cntv]
Data and examples speak for themselves. Nine years into the establishment of the New Development Bank, it has approved about 35 billion USD worth of loans. It was exactly such loans that funded over 100 projects including urban railway tracks in India and green wind power facilities in Brazil.
New Development Bank [source: xinhua]
Under the BRICS cooperation mechanism, Shanghai customs has opened “green lanes” for tangerines from South Africa, enabling clearance into China on the day of arrival; China launched the MisrSat-2 for Egypt, which has been fulfilling the latter’s needs in agriculture, forestry, urban construction and so on. The BRICS mechanism has achieved fruitful results in advancing South-South Cooperation and improving global governance.
the launch of MisrSat-2 [source: xinhua]
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