BRICS summit to strengthen unity

The 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, is expected to witness reinforced unity among emerging markets and Global South countries, as well as their greater support for multilateralism and global stability, analysts said.

They made the observation as President Xi Jinping was set to attend the landmark event from Tuesday to Thursday.

What makes this year's summit special is that it is the first of its kind following the most recent historic expansion of BRICS.

Chinese officials have emphasized that Beijing attaches great importance to the Kazan summit and fully supports Russia's role as the host.

Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Russia, told Xinhua News Agency in a recent interview that the expanded BRICS cooperation will make more contributions to improving the global governance system.

"China will continue to work closely with other BRICS members to forge a more comprehensive, closer, practical and inclusive high-quality partnership, and together embark on a new journey for BRICS," he said.

With the latest expansion, BRICS accounts for roughly 30 percent of the world's land area, 45 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of global trade. The grouping has entered a new era of greater BRICS cooperation, observers noted.

Behind this is the rise of emerging markets and developing countries as a whole, and the fact that the Global South accounts for more than 40 percent of the global economy, they added.

"We could strive for new milestone outcomes in such areas as finance, AI, and energy and minerals to get the greater BRICS cooperation off to a good start," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a BRICS foreign ministers' meeting on Sept 26 in New York.

In the first three quarters of this year, China's imports and exports to and from the other BRICS countries totaled 4.62 trillion yuan ($649.66 billion), up 5.1 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

"The BRICS cooperation mechanism is one of the key platforms for China's engagement in global governance," said Ren Lin, head of the Department of Global Governance at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics.

In recent years, China has put forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, which are compatible with the content of BRICS cooperation and will drive BRICS pragmatic cooperation to a new level, she said.

Referring to the greater BRICS cooperation, she said it has "enhanced the ability of emerging market countries and developing countries to cope with external risks and has promoted pragmatic cooperation among the Global South countries".

Recent months have witnessed a growing number of countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia, expressing their intention to join BRICS.

Jiang Tianjiao, deputy director of the Center for BRICS Studies at the Fudan Development Institute in Shanghai, said this also reflects that ideas such as "decoupling", proxy wars and protectionism are unpopular around the world.

"With its spirit of openness, inclusiveness, cooperation and win-win situations, BRICS will be able to gain wider recognition worldwide," he told Xinhua.

Magdy Amer, vice-president of the Egypt-China Friendship Association and former Egyptian ambassador to China, said that emerging markets are now playing a more important role in the world order, and "BRICS Plus" cooperation — collaboration of BRICS with countries outside the grouping, mainly developing countries — enjoys great potential.

"BRICS Plus" cooperation provides an opportunity for emerging markets to reach consensus on global issues and to boost the common development and growth of their economies, he said at a forum on BRICS cooperation in governance and culture last month in Moscow.