Volunteers learn etiquette knowledge at Xiamen University in southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 6, 2017. Preparations are in full swing one month ahead of the Ninth BRICS Summit, expected to attract thousands of representatives from China and abroad. A total of 2,000 volunteers are undergoing two months of training. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)
More than a decade after its establishment, BRICS, grouping five major developing countries from four continents, is recognized by international experts as an irreplaceable force in global governance.
Thanks to close cooperation and coordination between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS has achieved fruitful results that not only benefit the five member countries, but also contribute to safeguarding the interests of developing countries as a whole and improving the global governance system, according to experts.
FRUITFUL ACHIEVEMENTS IN COOPERATION
BRICS countries have created a new paradigm for mutual benefit cooperation among emerging and developing economies since the mechanism was established in 2006.
BRICS has been hailed as an "accelerator" in the transformation of the global economic governance system. The member countries have managed to increase their say in major international financial institutions and have been steadily boosting the reform of those institutions.
One of the major achievements of the BRICS mechanism is that it has helped increase the representation and say of developing countries in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in recent years, experts pointed out.
Evandro Carvalho, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Brazilian college Getulio Vargas Foundation, said BRICS countries have become a significant part in making global economic rules.
BRICS countries have demonstrated their vigor and vitality by championing an open and multilateral world order against a growing tide of protectionism from Western countries and the many challenges on the road of global economic recovery, he said.
Meanwhile, BRICS countries have established an all-dimensional cooperative dialogue mechanism covering various fields to coordinate their standings and voices on major global and regional affairs.
BRICS countries are heard speaking one voice on many global occasions. Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), spoke on behalf of all BRICS countries on April 18 at a high-level political forum on sustainable development, marking the first time the five members spoke one voice on major international affairs at a U.N. meeting.
It is also worth noticing that the establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank has not only boosted the common development of the five member countries, but has also injected fresh driving force into the mechanism's leading role in South-South Cooperation.
Referring to the establishment of the bank as a significant event in the development of BRICS, Carvalho said the bank has played a role in enlarging the influence of the five-member mechanism.
GROWING INFLUENCE
Experts agree that BRICS countries have been playing an ever bigger and more important role in global governance.
Varaprasad S. Dolla, a professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University of India, said today that developing countries, particularly BRICS members, are able to contribute more to global growth.
"BRICS has now emerged as a major block. Therefore, it is likely that they will have a lot more than they had before to contribute to economic governance," said Varaprasad.
Over the past decade, BRICS has grown into an engine driving global economic growth, with their contribution to the world economy rising from 12 percent to 23 percent. As of last year, BRICS countries accounted for nearly a quarter of the world economy and contributed more than half of global growth.
These numbers, experts said, testify to an ever enhancing and expanding role of BRICS countries in global governance.
BRIGHTER FUTURE
It is widely expected that the upcoming BRICS summit, scheduled for Sept. 3-5 in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China's Fujian Province, will usher in yet another golden decade of development for the mechanism.
According to Carvalho, the Brazilian expert, leaders from BRICS countries will compare notes on measures and plans for further cementing cooperation at the Xiamen summit.
China, currently holding the rotating presidency of BRICS, can play a leading role in deepening the cooperation among BRICS countries, he said.
Meanwhile, experts have been highlighting the modality of "BRICS Plus," which is aimed at building wider partnership through dialogue with developing countries and international organizations.
They said "BRICS Plus" is conducive to building the mechanism into the most influential platform for South-South Cooperation and increasing the representation and influence of the mechanism in an all-round way.
Forging a more extensive partnership between BRICS and other developing countries will make both bilateral and multilateral trade and mutual investment between the countries more effective, experts said.
Varaprasad, for his part, said if BRICS has to become truly representative and inclusive, then initiative like "BRICS Plus" is imperative. "Therefore inviting a number of countries from the south to the BRICS summit in Xiamen is to be welcomed by one and all."
"To me, 'BRICS Plus' is a kind of another phase in the evolution of BRICS -- from BRIC to BRICS and now BRICS Plus. So it has evolved, becoming more inclusive, becoming more representative," he said.
