The BRICS Summit Agenda 2022: In Search of deliverables

BRICS is a grouping of five emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa formed in September 2006 at the 61^st session of UNGA. The states have been meeting formally after the first summit in June 2009 at Yekaterinburg, Russia. The bilateral relations among the member states revolve around non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit. Since its formation, BRICS has developed as win-win cooperation between the five governments and an extravagant force for the evolution of international order, improvement of global governance, and promulgation of common goals.

Recent Developments

In May, foreign ministers of the BRICS countries met virtually ahead of the summit. The meeting was chaired by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss strengthening the multilateral system, the COVID-19 pandemic as the cases are soaring with the presence of the novel viral variants, and the ongoing Ukraine crisis. On the sidelines of the meeting, the foreign ministers held a BRICS Plus dialogue with their counterparts from other developing countries. Indian External Affairs Minister called for "accommodating each other's core interests and major concerns, respective each other's sovereignty, security and development interest and opposing hegemonism and power politics" [1]. This came against the backdrop of the LAC standoff since 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. The joint statement concluded after the meeting supports talks between Russia and Ukraine and highlights the urgency to deal with the burgeoning humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Earlier the 12^th BRICS meeting of countries' Health Ministers was conducted to deliberate on forming a large-scale BRICS Integrated Early Warning System to combat pandemics in the future [2]. The world is presently suffering from the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the representatives are engaged in valuable discussions on COVID-19 prevention and control, health system construction, and digital health.

The year began with the first-ever BRICS Sherpas meeting held for two days under China’s chairship [3]. The Sherpa dialogue is undertaken by the representative of the government and the selected Sherpa represents the particular country at international summits. The meeting was dedicated to drafting a BRICS calendar and scheduling forthcoming events. Among the 25 international events scheduled, five of them would be hosted by India under the BRICS STI forum. BRICS STI was proposed by India and an MoU was signed in 2015 with the following areas of interest; food security, sustainable agriculture, energy efficiency, renewable energy, life sciences, and space exploration. China will host the 10^th BRICS Science and Technology ministerial level meet and the BRICS Young Scientist Conclave. The latter pays special attention to modern agriculture, material science, artificial intelligence, bio-medicine, and carbon neutralization.

To foster high-quality partnership, the member states must undertake stringent efforts in key four areas including consolidating a three-wheel driven cooperation inclusive of economic, political, and people-to-people exchanges; building coordination to deal with international and regional challenges; ensuring the agendas of previous summits are achieved; and engage in dialogue with other emerging markets and developing countries along with international organizations to bolster South-South cooperation [4]. BRICS 2022 summit would revolve around the following aspects;

a)    The key priority is multilateralism regarding political and security cooperation, global economic governance, and international law and justice. BRICS countries shall continue to sweep advantages from various platforms such as the foreign ministers meeting, meeting of the National Security Advisors, and meeting of BRICS permanent representatives to multilateral organizations. The member states must uphold the sanctity of the international law steering the largest peace-making organization, the United Nations. Efforts muster to enhance cooperation on myriad global and regional takeaways including counter-terrorism, anti-drug campaigns, Information and Technology, anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, and many more.

b)    Foster an open and innovative world economy and maintain steady supply chains which was a lesson learned after the pandemic hit hard. Mobilize cooperation within the frameworks of G-20, WTO, World Bank, and IMF. The member countries will discuss encouraging the world to adopt responsible fiscal and monetary policies and establish a reliable international economic and financial system, hence, reducing the negative aftereffects on the developing nations. The New Development Bank, an alternative to the Bretton Woods Institutions, shall continue to expand its operations, increase its membership, and strengthen to provide unhindered support to the member states. New possibilities for the Contingent Reserve Arrangement mechanism and BRICS Local Currency Bond Fund will be pondered over.

c)     Build a low-carbon and green circular economy with an aim to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. The baton is in the hands of the developing nations to secure global climate and BRICS to play a bigger role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adopting climate-friendly activities. China will hold a BRICS high-level meeting on Climate Change and Environment Ministers meeting to propagate coordination between member countries to share expertise and technology for a green and low-carbon transition.

d)    Bolster public health cooperation with a special focus on vaccine research and equitable distribution. Countries shall work together to reduce the immunization gap between countries and societies. The member states will facilitate an early launch of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center in the virtual format and host a few seminars on vaccine cooperation in the coming months. The Health Ministers' meeting is an extremely important mechanism to communicate experiences and personnel training in the public health arena. Additionally, gathering support for the developing countries aids in boosting the capacity of public health services under the two overarching bodies-the UN and WHO.

e)    BRICS is a leading platform in terms of cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The members must enhance collaboration in the fields of cinema, media, governance, and civil society. In the due course of cooperation, a seminar on Governance, Forum on People-to-People, and Cultural Exchanges will be scheduled.

f)      Start-Up cooperation will bring a revolution in developing countries, China will be hosting the Forum on the Development of Industrial Internet and Digital Manufacturing which is an industrial innovation competition. The summit will deepen ties in artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, industrial internet, and much more. Soon the BRICS Action Plan on Innovation Cooperation 2021-2024 will be executed. The member states must build the Network of BRICS Technology Transfer Centers and endorse the iBRICS Network.

g)    BRICS working towards the execution of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. One of the priorities is to alleviate poverty with a special focus on the speed breaks caused by the pandemic. In line with the BRICS Agriculture Action Plan 2021-2024, China seeks to hold a seminar on BRICS rural development and poverty alleviation.

Future Possibilities

The global governance system and the international order is continuously changing and the global economic recovery after the unprecedented pandemic is fragile widening the distance between the North and the South. BRICS member countries shall pledge to break away from unilateralism and protectionism and move towards a multilateral trading regime, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and support economic globalization that is more inclusive and balanced [5].

Bloc confrontations and Cold war mentality have disturbed the peace and stability in the international arena. BRICS must ensure universal security, strengthen political mutual trust, develop communication and coordination on major international and regional issues, observe security cooperation, and accommodate each other’s core interests and crucial concerns. On the economic front, BRICS will serve as a high-end institution in developing infrastructure, sharing experiences and knowledge in matters of economic growth, and encouraging participation of the private sector in developmental processes. Sub-institutions under BRICS called BRICS Business Council, BRICS Women Business Alliance, and BRICS Business Forum are key stakeholders to promote healthy business ties between the member countries.

BRICS must embrace today's global challenges and keep innovating as per the demands of the situation. The bilateral confrontation between certain members must not have a spillover effect damaging the capacity and popularity of BRICS as an international grouping. The members shall endeavor to achieve more result-oriented cooperation and the outcomes are benefitting all equally, further, strive to expand the membership of the organization including other like-minded countries under the BRICS Plus framework.

 References

[1]https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/modi-xi-putin-to-come-together-for-brics-on-june-24/articleshow/91843717.cms

[2] http://en.nhc.gov.cn/2022-05/13/c_85955.htm

[3]https://theprint.in/india/first-brics-sherpas-meeting-of-2022-held-under-chinese-chairship/808022/

[4]http://brics2022.mfa.gov.cn/eng/dtxw/202203/t20220302_10647107.html

[5]https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-24/BRICS-Summit-in-China-to-focus-on-new-era-of-global-development--18Fe1TYbYOI/index.html

Pic Courtesy-Daniel Tong at Unsplash.com

(The views expressed are those of the author and do to represent views of CESCUBE.)