aditya
7:00 pm
What is the issue?
With the 13th BRICS summit to be held under India’s chairmanship (in digital format), here is a look at its various achievements andpriorities.
What are the achievements so far?
- BRICS comprises of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- Launched by a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006.BRIC turned into BRICS in 2010, with the entry of South Africa.
- BRICS is chaired by turn by the member countries. It represents 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the land area, 24% of global GDP and 16% of international trade.
- Served as a bridge between the Global North and Global South.
- Developed a common perspective on a wide range of global and regional issues.
- Established the New Development Bank.
- Created a financial stability net in the form of Contingency Reserve Arrangement.
- Now, planning to set up a Vaccine Research and Development Virtual Centre.
What are India’s immediate priorities?
Multilateral institutions
- Pursue reform of multilateral institutions such as the UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO and now even the WHO.
- But reform needs global consensus which is hardly feasible given the strategic tensions between the U.S. and China.
Combating terrorism
- There is a need to bridge the gap between rhetoric and action in this regard.
- E.g., Chinafeels little hesitation in supporting clear-cut denunciations of terrorist groups. It supports Pakistan, which is enmeshed with a host of international terrorist groups.
- In this context, BRICS is attempting to pragmatically shape its counter-terrorism strategy by crafting the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
- It contains specific measures to fight radicalisation, terrorist financing and misuse of the Internet by terrorist groups.
Other goals
- Promoting technological and digital solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Expanding people-to-people cooperation.
- Creating a better internal trade balance, and diversification and strengthening of regional value chains[remains a challengegiven China’s centrality and dominance of intra-BRICS trade flows].
- Increasing intra-BRICS cooperation in diverse areas like agriculture, disaster resilience, digital health, traditional medicine, and customs cooperation.
What are the challenges?
- China’s economic rise has created an imbalance within BRICS.
- China’s aggressive policy, especially against India, puts BRICS solidarity under exceptional strain.
- Strained relations of China and Russia with the West.
- Serious internal challenges preoccupying both Brazil and South Africa.
- Generally, an era of complex geopolitics.
What lies ahead?
