The 9th BRICS Summit began on 9th September 2021 under the chairmanship of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual mode. BRICS brings together five of the most dominant developing countries around the globe. The President of China Xi Jinping, the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro attended the summit. PM Narendra Modi appreciated BRICS partners for their cooperation. The summit’s theme was “BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus.
PM Modi emphasized the importance of BRICS partners in global recovery from COVID-19 and asked for better cooperation under the slogan “Building Back Resiliently, Innovatively, Credibly, Sustainably.”
The BRICS leaders collaborated to support the multilateral system. The BRICS Alliance on Green Tourists aims to support policies that help the tourism sector become more sustainable and inclusive. “BRICS Vaccine Research & Development Centre” is established virtually, in collaboration with the field of Space agencies and remote-sensing. They adopted an action plan for 2021-2024 with focus on Agriculture Cooperation. Summit called for reforms of the principal organ of the United Nations, reforming the UN Security Council.
Regional and global challenges, especially recent developments in Afghanistan, the rise of terrorism, and extremism, were also discussed by the leaders. The BRICS countries decided to expedite the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan proposal. Border Management, Information/Intelligence Sharing, Radicalization Countermeasures, and Online Terrorist Threats are all part of the plan.
President Xi Jinping appreciated the effort of five countries for their cooperation over the last 15 years. He said that “what BRICS partners experienced last year showed that if we put our minds, efforts together, we can make concrete and sustainable progress whatever adversities we may face in the future.” President Xi Jinping also mentioned that the 14th BRICS summit is going to be hosted by China. Next year they will take over as the chairman of BRICS.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said that regional conflicts emerged again and are currently more violent than before. “Afghanistan should not be a threat to its neighbors,” he stressed, adding that “drug trafficking and terrorism” would be a consequence. He cited that “The United States’ exit has triggered new issues, and it is still not known how it’s going to affect peace and security at regional as well as at global level.”
He said that Afghan citizens have struggled for decades, and are entitled to use their freedom to define how their country would look on their own.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said the collective response of the five countries towards the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated what they can accomplish when they work together. He stated that “representative multilateralism is the route to a sustainable future.”
“BRICS countries must assist global economic recovery and strengthen the resilience of all our public systems, as well as provide fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and therapeutics.” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. He urged his BRICS counterparts to be similarly bold in their pursuit of UN Security Council reform.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil called his trip to India fruitful. He mentioned that “The Brazil and India strategic partnership is going through an excellent point currently, with several different agreements signed during the trip in field of science and technology, energy, and health”. He also mentioned that the strategic partnership with China in trade and investment proved beneficial for the proper management of pandemics in Brazil.
He could be heard saying, “the human ties and similarities between Brazil and South Africa make for a fluent and very natural dialogue on areas such as defense, science and technology, trade, and environment.” Brazil and Russia have fostered and developed broad-ranging comprehensive bilateral relations. Brazil wants to diversify its exports by partnering with Russia.
In 2021, India will concentrate on setting goals across all the given 3 pillars of BRICS collaboration.
Security and Political – By advancing collaboration on global and regional security challenges, promote peace, security and prosperity among BRICS partners. The following are top priorities under this pillar: Counter-Terrorism Cooperation and Reform in the Multilateral System.
Economic and Financial Cooperation- To strengthen intra-BRICS cooperation in trading activities, agribusiness, infrastructure, small and medium companies, energy, and financial services to promote economic growth and development for joint prosperity. Identifying the benefits of utilizing innovative solutions in BRICS countries to reach Sustainable Development Goals, focus on Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Health Cooperation, and the BRICS Economic Partnership.
People and Culture – To improve and expand people-to-people connections in BRICS nations culturally, intellectually, among youth, athletics, and commerce through frequent exchanges. There are also exchanges between parliamentarians, young scientists, and others.
Written by- Riya Kashyap
Edited by- Aishani Mishra