Output of BRICS Summit at Xiamen for India
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Read Current Affairs Topic: Output of BRICS Summit at Xiamen for India
BRICS is a conglomeration of the fastest developing major economies of the world and its members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The first summit of BRICS was organized at Yekaterinburg in Russia in 2009 and it initial objective was to strive for a multipolar world. The BRICS accounts for 42.58% of the world population and 22.53% of the global GDP and 26.46% of the world area.
Since its inception, nine annual BRICS Summit have been organized latest being at Xiamen in China from September 3-5, 2017.
Xiamen Declaration
The motto of 9th BRICS Summit was ‘BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future’. The important points of Xiamen Declaration are as under:
BRICS Practical Economic Cooperation
- To promote the development of BRICS Local Currency Bond Markets and jointly establish a BRICS Local Currency Bond Fund.
- Implement and improve International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation in FATF.
- To explore the establishment of BRICS Institute of Future networks. Enhance joint BRICS research, development and innovation in ICT including the Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Big Data, Data Analytics, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and 5G and their innovative applications.
- Energy cooperation will work towards low emission, better access and sustainable development with most effective use of fossil fuels and wider use of gas, hydro and nuclear power.
- Five priority areas of agriculture cooperation are food security and nutrition, adaptation of agriculture to climate change, agricultural technology cooperation and innovation, agricultural trade and investment, and ICT application in agriculture.
Global Economic Governance
- To enhance communication and coordination in improving global economic governance to foster a more just and equitable international economic order.
- To come up with a new quota formula in IMF not later than the annual meeting of 2019.
- To promote the implementation of the World Bank Group Shareholding Review.
- To ensure full implementation and enforcement of existing WTO rules
- To enhance coordination and cooperation under the Argentina Presidency in 2018, with an aim to make the G20 process and outcomes reflect the interests and priorities of emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs).
International Peace And Security
- Member countries took the note of Brazil's proposal to establish a BRICS Intelligence Forum.
- BRICS deplored the nuclear tests conducted by North Korea.
- BRICS expressed concerned over the security threat in the region posed by Taliban, ISIL/DAISH, Al-Qaida and its affiliates including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
- BRICS called for expeditious finalization and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) by the United Nations General Assembly.
People To People Exchanges
- BRICS emphasised the importance of people-to-people exchanges to promoting development and enhancing mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation among BRICS peoples.
IMPLICATION FOR INDIA
Apart for the bilateral irritants, most of the challenges faced by the developing countries are similar. Since the BRICS members are the emerging and fastest growing major economies, they face similar economic challenges and active cooperation will help in resolving most domestic as well as regional issues amicably. Thus the commitments made under BRICS Practical Economic Cooperation and Global Economic Governance addressed all the major concerns faced by EMDCs including India.
Deepening cooperation in the field of energy, agriculture, ICT and capital markets will help in strengthening these sectors in the respective countries. The productivity enhancement in agriculture is a must for India if the government wants to fulfil its commitment to double the farmers’ income by 2022. Also, the enhanced agriculture income means increasing the income of 50% of the labour force. Similarly the cooperation in energy and capital market is instrumental for growth of secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy.
However, the most important outcome for India was seen by majority of media in the inclusion of Pakistan based terror outfits like Lashkar e Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad whose founders freely roam in Pakistan and openly issue threats against India. The Doklam impasse between India and China was another major issue which was peacefully resolved just ahead of the summit. These two incidents were seen as major diplomatic win for India. However, after the summit, to placate Pakistan, China recalled the so called sacrifices made by Pakistan to fight terrorism.
Compared to other international organizations, BRICS is relatively a new body but the enthusiasm and efforts by the member nations have helped in deepening its roots. Cooperation in multinational organizations also helps in resolving the bilateral issues as seen in the case of Doklam.
At the multilateral forums like WTO, IMF, G-20 and World Bank, BRICS can give a voice to the concerns of developing countries. The voting power of BRICS at World Bank is 13.24% while at IMF, their cumulative quota share is 14.91%. Thus, BRICS has the potential to become the representative of the EMDCs at various international forums.
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