The BRICS countries should play a leading role in efforts to uphold multilateralism, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.
To resort to unilateralism is to turn back the clock to a time when jungle law prevailed, damaging the international system and order formed after the World War II, Wang said at the Formal Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
Calling for concrete actions to uphold multilateralism, Wang said the BRICS countries should maintain the international system with the United Nations at its core. The bloc should hold to the international order based on the international law, a multilateral trading system represented by the World Trade Organization, and the common interests and development space of emerging markets and developing countries.
To mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations next year, Wang said the priority in upholding multilateralism is to support a greater UN role and safeguard the principles of the UN Charter.