BRICS members should expedite their efforts to implement an innovation-driven development strategy, boost domestic demands, deepen structural reforms and sharpen their traditional comparative advantages in order to boost their medium- and long-term growth potentials. In particular, they should bring to fruition the consensus reached in Ufa, Russia, last year to advance their economic partnership by promoting trade and investment, infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people exchanges. This is also the key to ensure BRICS members enjoy lasting economic growth and cooperation.
Besides, BRICS members have to increase their communication and coordination under the G20 framework, push forward the structural reform of International Monetary Fund and World Bank governance, as well as demand greater representation and say for emerging and developing countries. They should also work together to safeguard the multilateral trade system and help develop a transparent world economy opposed to protectionism to ensure all countries enjoy equal development opportunities and rules.
At the BRICS meeting, Xi also urged the emerging-market bloc to drive help the BRICS New Development Bank implement the first batch of projects, boost its management and financing capabilities, and enrich its macro-research on the contingent reserve arrangement, in order to strengthen the five countries' financial security.
On the principle of respecting each other's concerns and interests, BRICS countries should continuously deepen their security cooperation, and safeguard the UN Charter and principles of international relations to facilitate win-win partnerships and a peaceful and reasonable international order.
More importantly, BRICS states should insist on their right to choose the development models that best suit their real conditions and oppose any intervention in their internal affairs.
BRICS states should also try to dovetail their domestic development strategies to the international development agenda and urge developed countries to fulfill their obligations to help developing countries realize their development goals and to promote South-South cooperation.
The author is a senior researcher in world politics at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.