Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on the international community to safeguard global peace and security and uphold multilateralism.
In a speech to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, President Xi also called for efforts to unlock the economic potential for cooperation among the five major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to make the "pie bigger" for everyone.
Great potential for economic cooperation
"We must work together at the UN, G20 and WTO levels to safeguard the rule-based multilateral trading regime; promote trade and investment, globalization and facilitation; and reject protectionism outright," Xi told leaders gathered at the Sandton Convention Center.
The president also said China planned to host 10 human resources development cooperation programs and invite experts from other BRICS countries to jointly draw a cooperation blueprint for the new industrial revolution.
Protecting the multilateral trading system is the only choice for developing countries and emerging markets, Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, told CGTN, adding that trade friction only brings uncertainties and even harms the world economy as well as investment.
Liu said that the BRICS countries should make full use of the complementary advantages and work together to protect the multilateral trading system, peace, unity, and security.
A new type of international relations
President Xi also called on BRICS countries to work for a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation.
"By fully leveraging the role of BRICS meetings of foreign ministers, national security advisers and permanent representatives to the UN, we can make our voice heard, put forth our solutions," he said.
Expand "BRICS Plus" cooperation
"The 'BRICS Plus' approach we adopted at the Xiamen Summit is designed to strengthen the unity and coordination among BRICS members for greater cohesion and, at the same time, to keep broadening the BRICS 'circle of friends' in a joint pursuit of shared development and prosperity for all emerging markets and developing countries," said Xi.
He proposed the strengthening of cooperation in the fields of cultural and creative industries, the telling of more exciting stories, and enhancing of mutual understanding among the BRICS countries.
In his speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for more trade within the BRICS bloc. He said the grouping represented a significant portion of the global GDP and he welcomed closer cooperation between businesses as well.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the bloc members to harness technology to develop their economies.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the rise of unilateralism and protectionism in the world today has a negative impact on emerging markets and developing countries.
Brazilian President Michel Temer said that BRICS countries face similar development tasks and should strengthen solidarity to jointly tackle current risks and challenges.
The Johannesburg declaration of BRICS leaders was issued at the meeting, with a clear signal to safeguard multilateralism and oppose protectionism.
The meeting also decided to launch the new industrial revolution partnership of BRICS and hasten cooperation in the areas of the economy, trade, finance, political security and people-to-people exchanges.
After the meeting, the leaders of the five countries witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation documents.
The theme of this year's summit is "Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution."
