BRICS initiatives draw applause from foreign experts

BEIJING - The initiatives brought up by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Ufa, Russia to enhance cooperation within the BRICS bloc grouping Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have received positive responses from experts of other BRICS countries.

The BRICS countries should forge a community of common destiny in a bid to strengthen the basis for cooperation, said Xi when delivering a speech at the seventh BRICS summit in Ufa, capital of Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan, on Thursday.

The five countries, which are located in four continents respectively and which sit on both the northern and southern hemispheres, should work together to create new cooperation highlights, he said.

Echoing his remarks, Boris Volkhonsky, head of Asian Department at Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, said the BRICS bloc should not only be considered as a mechanism for communication between the five countries and among their leaders, but should also be viewed as a global mechanism for integration.

Volkhonsky believed BRICS countries such as Brazil and South Africa represent both themselves and the continents they are from. Therefore, coordination among the BRICS nations creates a new format to solve problems, including regional and global security threats, he said.

Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari, a Senior Research Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), said that BRICS countries have a common interest as far as peace and security is concerned.

"There are areas of convergence among BRICS members and these include fighting terrorism, tackling illegal migration, regulations of internet and governance issues," he said.

In his speech at the summit, Xi called for establishment of closer partnership among the BRICS nations by means of their mutually complementary advantages in resources endowment and the industrial structure and joint efforts to expand development space.

He urged simultaneous efforts to promote construction of the headquarters of the BRICS New Development Bank and an African regional center of the bank, so as to put them into operation and achieve early results as soon as possible.

Infrastructure construction matters a great deal for countries like Brazil and India, and the New Development Bank could play a big role in this regard, said Lia Valls Pereira from the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), a renowned college and public policy think tank in Brazil.

Meanwhile, a special reserve fund will help fend off monetary and financial problems in the BRICS countries as a key complement to the International Monetary Fund, said the Brazilian expert.

Financial cooperation among the BRICS nations will contribute to lessening their reliance on the US dollar, and it is conducive to free exchange among their own monetary systems, said Akshay Mathur, an expert with Gateway House Indian Council on Global Relations.

Memory Dube, who is also a researcher at SAIIA, noted that a strong relationship between BRICS and Africa will benefit both.

She urged African countries to streamline and coordinate their act to avoid unnecessary competitions and duplication of efforts by BRICS members in Africa.

On cooperation with other countries and international organizations, Xi said the BRICS countries should make a full use of their unique geographical advantages in a bid to actively carry out dialogues and exchanges and share results of cooperation.

Xi called on the BRICS nations to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other emerging markets and developing countries, so as to boost the power of the bloc and improve its representation and influence.

Xi's initiatives will bring benefit to the developing countries, said Volkhonsky. He believed the Bretton Woods system embodied by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund takes care of mainly the interests of rich countries.

The establishment of the BRICS New Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is therefore of great significance, he said.