President Xi calls on BRICS countries to deepen partnerships

World
Europe

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to deepen partnership for a brighter future on Sunday, as China is about to host the BRICS summit in 2017.

Xi made the statements in a letter sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Jacob Zuma, Brazilian President Michel Temer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to introduce China’s blueprint to promote cooperation among the bloc during the country’s presidency over the summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the eighth BRICS summit in the western Indian state of Goa on October 16, 2016. /Xinhua Photo‍

China will host the ninth BRICS summit in Xiamen, Fujian Province, this September, Xi said, adding that in the past, the meeting has yielded fruitful results in areas such as politics, economy, and people-to-people exchanges.

Facing growing uncertainties and instabilities in the international situation, BRICS countries should strengthen solidarity and cooperation and safeguard shared interests.

Under such circumstances, the upcoming Xiamen summit is expected to make progress in the following four aspects: deepening pragmatic cooperation for common development; enhancing global governance to jointly counter challenges; carrying out people-to-people exchanges to consolidate public support for cooperation; promoting mechanism building to construct broader partnership, the president noted.

From left to right: Brazilian President Michel Temer, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Jacob Zuma pose for a photo after BRICS leaders' meeting in Hangzhou, China on September 4, 2016. /Xinhua Photo

The five countries have made big strides in the BRICS summits and injected new dynamism into their cooperation, he added.

“The BRICS mechanism is a model for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries. It has brought benefits to the people of the five countries and made great contribution to boosting global economic growth, improving global governance and promoting the democratization of international relations,” Xi said.

The BRICS cooperative mechanism was established in 2006. In 2009, leaders from China, Russia, India and Brazil held their first official meeting under the mechanism in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2010, South Africa joined the group, and the acronym was changed to BRICS. Xi’s letter signals that China as the host for the upcoming summit has pressed the start button for the preparation work.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

3km