13th BRICS Summit

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    In News

    • Recently, the BRICS summit was held via virtual mode with the Prime Minister of India as the host.

    About

    • It was the 13th BRICS Summit.
    • The New Delhi Declaration was the first statement by the grouping since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
    • Leaders stressed the need for an “inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue”.

    Key Points

    • The summit emphasised the importance of the principle of “non-interference” in international affairs and said disputes and conflicts should be resolved by peaceful means.
    • The Leaders adopted the BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
      • Priority to fighting terrorism, including preventing attempts by terrorist organisations to use Afghan territory as terrorist sanctuary and to carry out attacks against other countries, as well as drug trade within Afghanistan.
      • Need to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in Afghanistan.
      • For India, this is a warning to anti-India terrorist groups like the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
      • For Beijing, it’s a message for the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) which has been active in the restive Xinjiang region.
    • The document also called for addressing the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
    • The BRICS leaders also took up the conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, the tension in the Korean peninsula, Israel-Palestine violence and other territorial disputes.
    • Highlighting the leading role that BRICS countries can play in the post-COVID global recovery, Prime Minister of India called for enhanced BRICS cooperation under the motto of ‘Build-back Resiliently, Innovatively, Credibly and Sustainably’.
    • Achievements: 
      • The first BRICS Digital Health Summit; 
      • the first BRICS Ministerial Joint Statement on multilateral reforms; 
      • a BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan; 
      • an Agreement on cooperation in field of remote-sensing satellites; 
      • a virtual BRICS vaccine Research & Development Centre; 
      • BRICS Alliance on Green Tourism, etc.

    (Image Courtesy: ET )

    Way Ahead

    • There is a need to contribute to fostering an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure stability, civil peace, law and order in Afghanistan.
    • It is for good reason that BRICS countries must pay special attention to the Afghan crisis.
    • There are four Cs for the fundamental principles of BRICS partnership:
      • strengthen public health cooperation in the spirit of solidarity; 
      • strengthen international cooperation on vaccines in the spirit of equitable access for all; 
      • economic cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit; 
      • political and security cooperation in the spirit of fairness and justice; and 
    • There is an urgent need to strengthen people-to-people exchanges in the spirit of mutual learning.

    BRICS

    • The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. 
    • Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, the group was formalised as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City.
    • After a series of high level meetings, the 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on 16 June 2009.
    • The BRIC group was renamed as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) after South Africa was accepted as a full member at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York in September 2010. 
    • Accordingly, South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011.
    • BRICS is an important grouping bringing together the major emerging economies from the world, comprising:
      • 41% of the world population, 
      • 24% of the world GDP 
      • over 16% share in world trade. 
      • Total combined area of 29.3% of the total land surface of the world
    • BRICS countries have been the main engines of global economic growth over the years. 
    • Over a period of time, BRICS countries have come together to deliberate on important issues under the three pillars of:
      • political and security, 
      • economic and financial and 
      • cultural and people to people exchanges.
    • During the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014, the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB – Shanghai, China). They also signed the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement to provide short-term liquidity support to the members.

    Source: TH

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