Xi urges BRICS to strengthen strategic partnership, improve global governance

OSAKA, Japan - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called on BRICS countries to enhance their strategic partnership and promote the improvement of global governance.

Xi made the remarks at a meeting with other BRICS leaders on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies in the Japanese city of Osaka.

Xi said that the international situation is now in a complicated and severe period, with the world economy maintaining growth on the whole but uncertainty and instability increasing significantly.

He urged BRICS countries, which also include Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, to do their own work well, and enhance their economic resilience and ability to withstand external risks.

Meanwhile, he said, BRICS countries need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advance the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and foster a sound international environment.

The Chinese president proposed that BRICS countries strengthen their strategic partnership, noting that in the second decade of BRICS cooperation mechanism, the leaders of the five countries should play a strategic leading role, steer BRICS cooperation in the right direction and continue to make steady progress in this regard.

He said that BRICS countries need to strengthen policy coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations (UN), the G20 and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to advance "BRICS Plus" cooperation by working with other emerging-market countries and developing countries.

Meanwhile, Xi proposed that the five countries promote the improvement of global governance.

He called on BRICS members to firmly uphold multilateralism, safeguard the international order based on international law and the international system with the UN at its core, advocate extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and oppose illegal unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction."

BRICS countries should take a clear-cut stand against protectionism, protect the core values and basic principles of the WTO, actively promote the international community's implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, and promote the main theme of international cooperation, he said.

In addition, the Chinese president proposed that BRICS countries deepen practical cooperation in various areas.

The five countries need to promote cooperation in economy, politics and security, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges in a balanced manner, accelerate the building of practical cooperation projects such as the BRICS partnership for a new industrial revolution, the BRICS Innovation network and the future network research institute, and enhance their competitiveness, he said.

They also need to deeply engage themselves with global innovation cooperation, jointly advocate mutual benefit, foster an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment, and allow all countries, including emerging-market countries and developing countries, and their businesses to participate in and benefit from innovation, Xi said.

The Chinese president also called on BRICS countries to continue to support and help each other and make unremitting efforts for the better lives of their peoples and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attended the meeting, which was chaired by Bolsonaro. Brazil holds the rotating presidency of BRICS mechanism.

The leaders of other BRICS countries agreed that the world today is full of uncertainties, as the international community faces challenges such as the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, the weakening of and destruction to international trade rules and the WTO, and the urgent need to strengthen the inclusiveness of development.

BRICS countries need to strengthen coordination, more actively play a leading role, safeguard multilateralism and rules-based international trading system, promote fair and sustainable patterns of development and trade based on mutual respect, and develop a more balanced international trade negotiations agenda, so as to play an even bigger role in boosting common prosperity and world economic growth, they agreed.

BRICS countries should better demonstrate the strategic value of their solidarity and cooperation, firmly uphold the development right of developing countries, and raise the status of emerging economies and developing countries in global affairs, they said.

BRICS countries also need to strengthen cooperation in digital economy, energy and finance to better resist external risks, urging the G20 summit to focus on development and implement its commitments on development assistance to Africa.

A press communique was issued after the BRICS leaders' meeting.